"The reproduction" vs "reproduction"

[dpzsf]

Hello,

I was recently dragged into an argument among non-English native speakers regarding the proper use of "reproduction" in standard copyright notices, such as "Reproduction is prohibited".
There are two main opinion:

1. If you say "The reproduction is allowed/prohibited", this means not "copying the content" but rather "procreation" (as in biology). The article "the" changes the meaning of this phrase. You must omit the article here to get the correct meaning. Only non-native speakers can say this with "the".

2. Yes, this phrase should be used, and is most frequently used, without "the". However, there are examples of using "the" here even by native speakers. The presence/absence of "the" doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.

Could you please clarify the situation? Which of the opinions is correct and why?.

Thank you.

[Soup]

Noun:
Reproduction is ...
The reproduction of ... is ...
The reproduction is ...

Adjective: The reproduction rate is ...