Esteemed

I don't think that people lose billions of dollars to piracy. The problem is that most design and artistic intellectual property is probably marked up beyond most customer's means. If copyright is enforced, given the economics of art and design, I would guess that people would start developing better quality art. They would produce more original designs at a much lower price. The intellectual property problem is actually a result of the history of production -- people grow up seeing a very limited set of design due to entertainment monopolies. With new internet technology, people are learning they can make free high quality art themselves for the first time. After years and years of monopoly culture dominating society's visual vocabulary, people are just starting to learn how to express themselves artistically for the first time. These billion dollar estimates are way off. All people need to do is make their own completely original art, document the cost, and there, they have the real price of copyright infringement. Projections are not as good a control group as comparison production. It is "The Last of the Monopolies" in some sense... I think artists who really want to ensure a good future for themselves will focus on generating their own unique ideas and support people and groups who in turn support original art.