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Comment by mattee | Hacker News Reader

Easy for them to say. But are they also ok with people creating counterfeit Swiss watches?

There's a big difference between creating something that looks like a Swiss watch and selling it to someone who wants a Swiss watch, and creating something that looks like a Swiss watch and selling it to someone who wants something that looks like a Swiss watch. The first is fraud against the end purchaser, whereas the second is at most possible trademark infringement.

It seems to me that those pressing for "anti-counterfeiting" laws are trying to conjure up the spectre of the first case, to get popular support without giving people the chance to think too hard about what would be fair legislation for the second case.

That is a very different aspect of intellectual property. While related in the broad scope, as far as the constraints of this report and the subject of downloading copy-written materiel go it is irrelevant.

I don't think you understood my point. If Switzerland's economy financed movies and depended on the revenue from those movies to employ people, their government would have a different view of people downloading free movies and music. It is a different aspect of intellectual property rights, but the argument is the same in both cases.

It's still illegal to upload.

In other words, it's not illegal to buy a counterfeit watch, but it's illegal to make one. (Yes, the analogy still doesn't hold well.)

Mattee is still right that part of the decision from the Swiss gov comes from the fact that file sharing does not hurt the Swiss local economy (they explicitly say it).

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, they exploit their status of being a small country. The Swiss have always been ignoring other countries problems and only do what benefits them most (hence the fiscal situation and the protection of the bank industry).

If you can afford doing it, why not do it?

Funnily enough, if I understand it correctly, it is illegal to import counterfeited goods into Switzerland and border guards will sometimes check your purchases when returning from holiday to make sure you haven't any in your luggage.

I think you are confused. You are comparing completely different things.

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