Piracy of Intellectual Property: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

The last few decades have seen enormous growth in piracy of copyrighted goods and, in particular, an enormous growth in piracy of creative works that employ a digital format. In this paper we discuss classic theory related to the piracy issue, provide a brief history of the growth of piracy over the last few decades, and then discuss issues concerning the present situation. We conclude with speculation concerning the future of piracy, where one of our main points is that, at least for the developed world, there are important reasons for believing that piracy is likely to continue to grow.