One of the most worrying things about the Internet, if you're someone who is
looking to protect your intellectual property, is the ease with which someone
can steal what's yours and use it for their own purposes.
Of course we have laws, and even international treaties designed to protect
the rightful owner from having their hard work stolen at the click of a mouse --
but the main problem is that the Net is such a big place it can be very
hard to detect when someone's using your property without permission.
Take the case of local Web Designer Dave Blyth whose
Webdesign.co.nz
business and site is well known amongst long-time Net users.
Could it be that Dave has been pilfering the graphics and layout from
this site,
seemingly operated by a poor Hungarian web designer who cant' even afford
his own domain name?
Of course not -- the poor Hungarian snot has stolen key elements of
Webdesign's site in a rather blatant and illegal manner.
But what can you do when this kind of international copyright and trademark
infringement is uncovered?
Well, if you've got a fat wallet you can sue the stuffing out of the offender --
but if, as might appear to be the case in this instance, the offender has
little or no money, you could find yourself up for a very large legal bill
with little to show for it except the satisfaction that you taught the
offender a lesson.
Of course, as is the Aardvark way, the first step might be to email the
thieving rodent and ask politely if s/he would mind not breaking the law
in this manner. However, the chances that the thief understands English
or could make sense of such an email appears a little remote.
It's rather ironic that the sheer power of the Net also creates situations
where you become virtually powerless to economically protect your
rights isn't it?
Caveat Emptor
These days it simply makes good sense to get virus and trojan protection
for your PC -- so where do you go to buy this stuff?
Why you go to the Web of course!
However, be warned -- you really ought to shop around -- even within the one
company.
An alert Aardvark reader discovered that there can be huge difference in the
price of Norton's Antivirus software depending on whether you buy it from the
USA site
or the more local
Australasian (Asian/Pacific) site.
Yep, according to the ASB's online forex calculator last night, buying
the Antivirus software from Symantec USA will cost you US$39.95 (that's the equivalent of
NZ$88.38) but buying it from Symantec Asia Pacific will cost you A$98.76 (the equivalent
of a whopping NZ$115.83).
So what's going on? Why the disparity?
Well it seems that the Asia Pacific site offers only the "boxed" version
which is physically delivered with CD whereas the US site gives you the option
of downloading your purchase at the lower price.
Personally I'd be pretty ticked off if I thought I was buying a downloadable
product and then found, having already handed over my credit card details, that
I was spending extra and waiting longer for it to be delivered in the mail.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
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