"The Walking Dead" Has Millions of Pirates

The midseason premiere of AMC’s hit show “The Walking Dead” set a new record for the series in terms of illegal downloads. Variety reported that within 20 hours of the February 8^th premiere approximately 1.29 million Internet addresses had pirated the episode. Although HBO’s “Game of Thrones” season four premiere has the record with 1.86 million pirated copies within 24 hours of the debut, “The Walking Dead” seems to be the second most pirated show.

It is unfortunate that these pirate parties continue to occur and in record-setting fashion. (See here and here.) Innovative tools, such as WheretoWatch.com and Rightscorp, have emerged in order to diminish piracy and protect intellectual property rights. But as long as these unfortunate events continue to occur, new efforts should be made to severely diminish the size and scope of theft of intellectual property. The protection of intellectual property rights is essential for encouraging more innovation, creative content, and economic growth, because it gives individuals the ability and incentives to provide valuable goods and services for consumers.