You wouldn't steal a car. You would never rob (抢劫) a bank or pick someone's pocket. But you may
be another kind of thief.
     If you have ever bought a disc for 15 yuan or less, then you have helped to rob artists or musicians of
their intellectual properly rights (知识产权).
     Last Thursday was World Intellectual Property Day. Activities to tell people about intellectual property
rights were held around the country.
     Intellectual property includes inventions, literary (文学的) and artistic works, names, and pictures. They
are of little value (价值) if they are not read, seen and used.
     While the cost of copying discs is very small, authors, singers and actors have to spend a lot of money
and time making a new product. That's why they have the right to make money from their work.
     So buying pirated (盗版的) music of Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai is like stealing from them, paying them no
respect for their hard work.
     If Jay Chou cannot make money from his work, he may not make anything else. But those who make
pirated goods are becoming rich without doing any hard work.
     The authors should ask for a fair price for their work. Earlier this year there was much talk about how
much KTV clubs should pay the music companies for using their songs.
     The copyright fee (版权费) also should be fair to the users. That's good for the music's popularity and
society as well.