3 ms·
You're contriving a situation as a gotcha instead of acknowledging the spirit of the question. The legal test of piracy in media consumption, I presume, is inte
by Two4 3y ago
You're contriving a situation as a gotcha instead of acknowledging the spirit of the question. The legal test of piracy in media consumption, I presume, is intentional action to contravene copyright, not passive consumption of media.
- keernan 3y agoI'm a (retired) trial lawyer. I'm simply using basic legal logic to establish principles (use the extreme case to establish the essential exception and then work increasingly inwards until a demarcation line can be established). Along those lines, let's see how we can address your statement: "an intentional act to contravene copyright, not a passive consumption of media" by adding to my "contrived example": Example: We bring chairs with us to sit and watch the displayed video in Times Square at 9:00 every evening, aware that recently released videos are displayed, with sound, every evening at 9. Are we pirating copyright materials by our intentional presence in Times Square with our chairs every evening? I would suggest to you that the answer, legally, is an affirmative "no". While I am no expert on copyright law and have made no attempt to research the issue, that merely viewing copyrighted materials online without more (no involvement in placing them online and no monetary involvement) is not a criminally or civilly chargeable offense. Perhaps some other attorneys who are more knowledgeable about the subject can chime in. I'm actually interested in the answer but too busy on other things to spend the time researching the issue.