Future of Copyright debates with Dutch Pirate Party

Future of Copyright’s own Bart Schermer entered a debate with Samir Allioui, the leader of the Dutch Pirate Party last week in Utrecht. After the debate, in which Allioui defended the claim that sharing copyrighted works for non-commercial purposes must be allowed, Schermer was chosen the winner.

Both voiced criticism about how copyright now functions in the online environment. But each had a dramatically different solution. The pirate party has lost confidence in copyright and strives towards a future in which cultural products can be freely shared, while Schermer’s core assumption was that creativity should be protected.

Allioui claimed that the concept of property is only partly valid when intellectual property is concerned. Schermer argued, however, that these products should also be awarded protection as their creation often demands high investments. When people contribute millions or even hundreds of millions for the development of software, movies or games, these costs have to be recouped. Otherwise, the supply of such goods will dry up in the end.

The audience was critical about the Pirate Party’s opinion that all protected works should be for grabs. The ease with which Allioui claimed that the entertainment industry should innovate, but at the same time that their works would enter the public domain immediately, met with a lot of criticism from the audience.

The debate (in Dutch) can be viewed here. The debate starts at 1h 16m.