As you both have said, copy protection of copyright work is at best a slight deterrent, at worst an ulcer-producing, headache-causing, frustration-inducing problem of nightmare proportions. Well, I DID say "at worst" :-)
IMHO, if I am producing thousands-to-millions of copies of a commercial work, while a 1-to-5 percent shrinkage of product income due to piracy can be significant, I can price my product to compensate me for that loss. I can also go with any number of copy protection schemes, a bank of lawyers and the courts in an attempt to recoup or mitigate the abuse and my losses - not an exceptionally effective way of doing business, protecting my copyright, or eliminating the problem.
Because, again, as both of you indicate, it appears that there is and will be NO guaranteed way to prevent those who know how and want to from doing so - and that, Charles, even extends to electronic delivery.
To one degree or another those who WANT to can and will devise a way. Like locked doors and windows - they keep the honest people honest. For everyone else there's a break-in tool. Again, it will be the same with electronic delivery regardless of assigned passwords, special clearance, watermarking or deep-dish encryption involving keys and codes beyond my humble comprehension.
Friendly, curious or evil hackers and pirates will devise a way to get over, under, through or around our copyright protection efforts.
That being said...
Since I do NOT anticipate production and distribution of thousands or millions of a commercially viable copyrighted production: since my productions are likely to not exceed hundreds I have come to accept that a few Grad Night seniors in my videos (for example, there are others as well, but ie: Grad Night) will copy on a branded disk, mark it with a DVD approved marking pen (or not) and pass a few around for his/her friends.
My answers/solutions? Since it's gonna happen anyway, fuggidaboudit. Do what I can to keep the honest people honest by watermarking, implementing whatever copy protection schemes I can afford or access, and...
...last, but not least. package and deliver my product in professional-looking cases with quality printed inserts and DVDs - often customized or personalized. Since I have maintained the quality packaging delivery philosophy with ALL my deliveries my orders/sales have increased more than 50 percent, compared to when I delivered some products packaged less creatively.
Another thing I do is advanced sales with minimums, hoping to gain a sufficient level of sales that I can mentally write off the ones I know I will lose due to pirating/copying. I also handle point-of-event sales, and delay delivery long enough to pick up a few more stragglers, get the word out about the "awesome" packaging, assuring myself I've probably milked that cow for about as much as she's gonna give.
My 85-cents.
