importance of copyright protection

Copy protection is most commonly found on videotapes, DVDs, computer software discs, video game discs and cartridges, and more recently, some audio CDs. Historically, most companies that publish works on these media have believed that copy protection will increase the company's revenues, by limiting the ability of the consumer to make copies of the media. In the absence of copy protection, most of these media are relatively easy to copy in their entirety using a machine. This results in a situation where consumers can easily make copies of the items to give to their friends, a practice known as "casual copying". Because this practice reduces the number of people in the market who lack the product, it is therefore argued that the ease of copying such media robs the company of potential customers. The counter argument says that no sale is lost, because the people who obtain free copies only use what they can get for free, and therefore would not purchase their own copy i