4 ms·

"There are conditions that make it so in the US"? And every other western country (and pretty much every other developed nation full stop. Copyright infringem

"There are conditions that make it so in the US"? And every other western country (and pretty much every other developed nation full stop. Copyright infringement isn't theft but it is criminal. Whether that should be the case or not is a matter for debate, whether it is or not isn't.

petercooper 16y ago
Copyright infringement isn't theft but it is criminal. In which jurisdiction? Copyright infringement is against the law but it's not a "crime" (and therefore not criminal). This is true of most civil offenses. Some conditions apply in order to turn copyright infringement into a misdemeanor or a felony in a federal sense - wilfulness and varying levels of financial gain. If you are merely conflating the words "illegal" and "criminal", they do not mean the same thing. (At least, I've only studied law within the context of England and Wales but believe the US system takes a similar approach on these fundamental issues given its ancestry.)
- tedunangst 16y ago
  http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2319.html http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2319.html
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  I'm aware that criminal and illegal aren't the same thing but in both the US and the UK copyright infringement can be a criminal matter (these things aren't mutually exclusive - things aren't either or, many are both). Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents) copyright law in UK allows for criminal prosecution where there is deliberate intent or passing-off in a commercial context. Section 107 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/107 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/107) outlines both the detail of the criminal liability (and it is expressly criminal liability) and the punishments that can result, including prison and fines. The reason it's more commonly treated as a civil matter is that for the injured party to recover damages they'd need to pursue a civil case as well as the criminal case so they don't normally bother. Someone else has pasted a link supporting that this is the same in the USA and, as it was a condition of the WTOs Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that laws be passed making copyright infringement a criminal offence, this is almost certainly true for any signatory (153 member states including the UK, USA, India, most (if not all) of Western Europe and anyone who is anyone except, for some reason, Russia.
Derbasti 16y ago
Copyright infringement is not theft and it is not criminal in Germany. It is illegal for sure, but not criminal. It is probably criminal to sell pirated stuff in a large scale, though. (Again, sell, not distribute)

petercooper 16y ago

Copyright infringement isn't theft but it is criminal. In which jurisdiction? Copyright infringement is against the law but it's not a "crime" (and therefore not criminal). This is true of most civil offenses. Some conditions apply in order to turn copyright infringement into a misdemeanor or a felony in a federal sense - wilfulness and varying levels of financial gain. If you are merely conflating the words "illegal" and "criminal", they do not mean the same thing. (At least, I've only studied law within the context of England and Wales but believe the US system takes a similar approach on these fundamental issues given its ancestry.)

tedunangst 16y ago
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2319.html http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2319.html
Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
I'm aware that criminal and illegal aren't the same thing but in both the US and the UK copyright infringement can be a criminal matter (these things aren't mutually exclusive - things aren't either or, many are both). Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents) copyright law in UK allows for criminal prosecution where there is deliberate intent or passing-off in a commercial context. Section 107 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/107 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/107) outlines both the detail of the criminal liability (and it is expressly criminal liability) and the punishments that can result, including prison and fines. The reason it's more commonly treated as a civil matter is that for the injured party to recover damages they'd need to pursue a civil case as well as the criminal case so they don't normally bother. Someone else has pasted a link supporting that this is the same in the USA and, as it was a condition of the WTOs Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that laws be passed making copyright infringement a criminal offence, this is almost certainly true for any signatory (153 member states including the UK, USA, India, most (if not all) of Western Europe and anyone who is anyone except, for some reason, Russia.

Derbasti 16y ago

Copyright infringement is not theft and it is not criminal in Germany. It is illegal for sure, but not criminal. It is probably criminal to sell pirated stuff in a large scale, though. (Again, sell, not distribute)