On Sept. 6, Federal judge Jed Rakoff imposed a penalty on the internet company MP3 that could run as high as $250 million. This is a direct result of an April ruling that found the defendant had violated the copyrights of a number of copyright owners. In his comments, Judge Rakoff stated that the newness of the internet did not in any way relieve firms and individuals of the absolute duty to respect the rights of those people and companies which own the copyrights to any and all intellectual material.

The implications of this ruling to gamers should be obvious. The proliferation of web sites offering FREE material is in many cases a violation of someone else's copyright. One site, in particular, is quite brazen with its posting of REVO flags and the work of Guido Rosignoli. The primary impact of these illegal postings is to stifle new work by authors and artists. Why bother to put in 100+ hours of research and work only to find it posted on the internet shortly after it's been issued?

If we, as gamers, want new intellectual efforts we will just have to pay for them, or they just won't happen. The bottom line is, if you want new reference material, new products and ideas, pay for them! Fail in this obligation and you will probably never know what might have been when creative people simply say, "Why bother?" and not publish or produce new works for us to use and enjoy.

As an addendum, the Justice Department has filed on behalf of the copyright holders in the MP3 and Napster cases.