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One breaks the criminal law, another breaks the civil law. Both break the law.

• manquer 2y ago
  Both break the civil law , you can absolutely sue the thief for damages for lost property. Typically this is not done because it is not worth the lawyer expenses as recovery chances are pretty slim unless it is a kleptomaniac billionaire maybe , instead you claim insurance to recover on your losses. Similarly copyright theft is also same as any other property theft, you can charge under criminal law as well , typically success rate is not high , but people have gone to prison over pirating movies or bootlegging stuff etc
  • Jolter 2y ago
    So what’s the case law for violations of the GPL? Did anyone get criminally convicted prosecuted for violating any software license at all, and was anyone convicted? I’m only aware of civil suits in this regard.
    • manquer 2y ago
      There are some in the civil side in last decade or so. Of the top of my head - the BusyBox suits from early 2010s - FSF vs Cisco on Linksys code - McHardy case over in germany - Artifex case over Ghostscript