Primary Objective

In this day and age, it has become increasingly difficult to protect the rights of copyright owners. This is primarily due to the fact of the rapid development of technology, particularly, the Internet. With just a few clicks of a button, one can now download songs and movies from the Internet without having to spend a single dime. This is a deterrent for authors to compose/write original works.

However, last June 19, 2009, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year old mother was found liable for willfully infringing the copyrights of 24 songs she downloaded off the Internet using the file-sharing service KaZaA. The Federal Court awarded record labels $80,000 per song - $1.92 million in total.

In the situation above, I think that the award granted to the record labels is quite excessive. From this point of view, it would have “better” if Mrs. Rasset physically stole the CDs themselves and suffer the criminal penalties.

The primary objective of copyright is “not to reward the labor of authors, but to promote the progress of science and useful arts.” (Amador) Thus, a balance must be created between free society and the rights of copyright owners. The Laws on Copyright should not be used to oppress free society in general but to be promoted in line with this basic principle.