[deleted] t1_jd3espc wrote on March 21, 2023 at 3:39 PM

It's incredibly difficult to make the "hurt sales" claim either way because you can always claim that no matter how good sales are that "but for X they would have been even higher" and there's no way to conclusively prove or disprove that.

That said, they don't really have to prove that it actually hurt sales to make their case. The actual legal question at issue hinges on what is and is not allowed under IP law and lost sales are irrelevant to that.

Grimsley t1_jd3hthd wrote on March 21, 2023 at 3:59 PM

Easier to simply say, correlation does not imply causation.

Same thing with pirating video games or movies or anything else. Can't prove that person would have actually gone out and bought the product legitimately.

archontwo t1_jd6z2x8 wrote on March 22, 2023 at 8:13 AM

There was an interesting study done by a large fashion house on the cheap knock off handbags and how they affected sales. They spent millions of dollars to find out that the people who bought knock off bags at a flea market for $50, where not the same people who payed for a $5000 bag from Louis Vitton or some such.

Imagine that!

It was part of a TED talk a few years back by Johanna Blakely

Grimsley t1_jd7t3kk wrote on March 22, 2023 at 1:39 PM

Surprised Pikachu face

[deleted] t1_jd3iwe4 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:06 PM

But you can't prove that they wouldn't have either, and again, it's not really relevant as far as IP law is concerned.

Grimsley t1_jd3mj75 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:29 PM

Sure, but the onus is on the accuser to prove the damages.

As far as IP law, I can't even really speak on any of that because I personally have no idea about it.

[deleted] t1_jd3p7s8 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:46 PM

Yes, but the specific case against internet archive isn't really alleging damages (from my understanding) but centers around the fact that they are (allegedly) illegally copying and distributing copyrighted material.

[deleted] t1_jd3yjek wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:44 PM

[deleted]

[deleted] t1_jd40azc wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:56 PM

Yes, but the key phrase there is "one of" and it's a hard sell to argue that widespread distribution of a copyrighted work is ever "fair use", especially without adding anything to the work.