After months of debate about SOPA, PIPA and ACTA… after the shutdown of file sharing services, the arrest of executives who oversaw them and the chasing of torrent sites from one domain name to another… there is a new development that could put all this in perspective.

Today, the TED organization released a video featuring comic author Rob Reid’s unveiling of a new branch of mathematics that he calls “Copyright Math”. This study is based on deconstructing statements by the entertainment industry, such as:

The logic Reid employs in this piece should be shared with every person who has ever burned a CD.

Filmed at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center in California, the video shows in visceral terms just how ridiculous the whole thing has gotten.