Can someone point me to what penalties there are for violating the copyright laws? An example of what I'm looking for is if someone knowingly distributes copyrighted property (computer software) through a public means such as the so-called P2P (peer to peer) file swapping software

TIA

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

http://www.copyright.gov/

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html

Willful infringement can be VERY expensive.

John

__________________
04 C230K Sedan
01 Boxster

00 C230K Sedan (sold)
87 420SEL "Phatryd" (sold)

Good luck. As someone who owned and operated a small software company a little while back, I can only say that a certain amount of software piracy is an expectation. There are (were) no practical legal remedies available.

I'm pro-music swapping............that will teach the greedy mobsters that run the RIAA to sue their customer base.................I haven't bought any music since they started and I won't buy a single thing untill that cartel is broken up.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I refuse to do business with any company that is agressively tying to stiffle technology.............becasue they allow the fat cats to bleed the company profits dry for their own selfish greed..while shafting the people who do all the the work..yet try to use strong arm tactics to threaten the public.

I make it my mission in life to not give those people a single dime of my money.

But no I also do not distribute what I gather for personal use only. I leave that to others.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

That just sounds like a lame excuse to rationalize a criminal act. If you want a commercial product, be it software, music, movies, whatever, pay for it. There is no entitlement to commercial products -- you're either willing to pay the price or you do without.

Its called hitting them where it hurts...............the RIAA skims off most of the money and the artists get peanuts......the RIAA engages in price fixing and they get a shame on you......they they push crappy bands on the public and then blame sagging revinues on fiel swappers when the fault is few decent bands producing marketible music.....then try to extort the money out of people who share old stuff they won't even bother to release.

RIAA = OPEC


Business #101 ---- Rule #1...Don't crap on your customers...

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Nobody ripped you anything unless they put a gun to your head and said 'buy this or die'. I used to find my modestly priced software products on Warez sites. To hell with me, right? I have no right to be paid for my work either, is that right? It's stealing -- period.

Customers pay for product, thieves don't. Business #101 ---- Rule #1...Don't crap on your customers, but do crap on thieves.

OH...how about their goons going after people trading copies of stuff ripped from vinyl that they refuse to release on CD for a fair price................stuff they don't even sell but hold distribution rights to.

It doesn't cost $17 to release some early 80's stuff on CD.............hell at $9.00 they would still make a nice profit.............particularly on stuff you already own on Vinyl you already paid for once.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Not wishing to further stir up the hornets nest (I can hear 'em buzzing already), but how long do copyrights last?

I have an old dos program, must be 7 or 8 years old, which is no longer supported. Not sure if the guy is still in business, may have died for all I know. To use it, I will have to hex edit the registered owners registration. I would be more than happy to buy a fresh copy, but it seems to not be possible. There is no recent software that I know of which does the same thing. What would Y'all do in this situation?

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

Hack away..........................

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

You just said it, they own the distribution rights, they can do what they want. Just because you might act differently in their shoes does not justify stealing the product. The Robin Hood excuse doesn't work. Thats like some liberal punk saying "I'm poor, therefore I am entitled to steal from the rich".

I don't like the situation either, my pet bug is major league sports and citizen paid-for arenas.....a.k.a. sports franchise blackmail.

How about Porsche suing *every* web site that uses the name Porsche. Even personal sites that are not commercial. Those guys are real buttholes, argubly their attorney should be hung for malpractice by giving them advice to do these crappy and unecessary lawsuits.

The best (and legal) thing to do is do not buy the product. Going the other way in the name of "they deserve it" is not a good plan, no matter how good it feels.

Back to the original question, violating a copyright is not against the law per se. Owning a copyright (or patent) just gives the holder grounds to sue the party who infringes on it.

Fred

__________________
MB-less

Its not theft when I acquire a digital copy of something I own on vinyl....................

these idiots are causing their own dwindleing revenues.........they push crap bands nobody wants to buy........and tickes off MOST of thier customer base with their ambulance chasing lawyers............I know a lot of people in the file sharing world and they also stopped buying CD's purely for this reason....

there is a silent and growing boycott of the Music industry..............call it a backlash for their greedy behaviour.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Oh yeah, nothing like stealing from the artist to make the music execs feel pain.

Set those ethical standards low enough, and anybody can feel good about being a f**king thief.

B