View source for Copyright infringement

{{Short description|Illegal usage of copyrighted works}}
{{for|information on handling copyright concerns in Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Copyright violations|selfref=yes}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
[[File:Copyrightpirates.jpg|thumb|An advertisement for copyright and patent [[Legal document assistant|preparation services]] from 1906, when [[copyright registration]] [[copyright formalities|formalities]] were still required in the US]]
{{Intellectual property}}
'''Copyright infringement''' (at times referred to as '''piracy''') is the use of [[Copyright#Scope|works]] protected by [[copyright]] without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain [[exclusive right]]s granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to produce [[derivative work]]s. The copyright holder is usually the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement.

Copyright infringement disputes are usually resolved through direct negotiation, a [[notice and take down]] process, or litigation in [[Civil law (common law)|civil court]]. Egregious or large-scale commercial infringement, especially when it involves [[counterfeit]]ing, is sometimes prosecuted via the [[criminal justice]] system. Shifting public expectations, advances in digital technology and the increasing reach of the Internet have led to such widespread, anonymous infringement that copyright-dependent industries now focus less on pursuing individuals who seek and share copyright-protected content online,{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} and more on expanding copyright law to recognize and penalize, as indirect infringers, the service providers and software distributors who are said to facilitate and encourage individual acts of infringement by others.

Estimates of the actual economic impact of copyright infringement vary widely and depend on other factors. Nevertheless, copyright holders, industry representatives, and legislators have long characterized copyright infringement as piracy or theft – language which some U.S. courts now regard as [[pejorative]] or otherwise contentious.<ref name=Dowling /><ref name=Hotfile_TF>{{cite web |title = MPAA Banned From Using Piracy and Theft Terms in Hotfile Trial |access-date = 30 November 2013 |url = http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-banned-from-using-piracy-and-theft-terms-in-hotfile-trial-131129/ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131130144431/http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-banned-from-using-piracy-and-theft-terms-in-hotfile-trial-131129/ |archive-date= 30 November 2013 |url-status = live |date = 29 November 2013 }}</ref><ref name=Hotfile_TD>{{cite web |title = MPAA Banned From Using Piracy and Theft Terms in Hotfile Trial |access-date = 30 November 2013 |url = http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131130/15263725410/surprise-mpaa-told-it-cant-use-terms-piracy-theft-stealing-during-hotfile-trial.shtml| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203072723/http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131130/15263725410/surprise-mpaa-told-it-cant-use-terms-piracy-theft-stealing-during-hotfile-trial.shtml| archive-date = 3 December 2013| url-status = live}}</ref>

==Terminology==
The terms ''piracy'' and ''theft'' are often associated with copyright infringement.<ref name="Cara" /><ref name="Nick">{{cite web|title=Game of Thrones: Another case for piracy|url=http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2014/04/08/3980980.htm|work=ABC technology+games|publisher=ABC|access-date=21 April 2014|author=Nick Ross|date=8 April 2014}}</ref> The original meaning of ''[[wikt:piracy|piracy]]'' is "robbery or illegal violence at sea",<ref>{{cite web|title=piracy|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piracy?s=t|work=Dictionary.com |access-date=21 April 2014|year=2014}}</ref> but the term has been in use for centuries as a synonym for acts of copyright infringement.<ref name=Panethiere_p2 /> ''[[Theft]]'', meanwhile, emphasizes the potential commercial harm of infringement to copyright holders. However, copyright is a type of [[intellectual property]], an area of law distinct from that which covers robbery or theft, offenses related only to tangible [[property]]. Not all copyright infringement results in commercial loss, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that infringement does not easily equate with theft.<ref name=Dowling>''[[Dowling v. United States (1985)|Dowling v. United States]]'' (1985), 473 U.S. 207, pp. 217–218.</ref>

This was taken further in the case ''MPAA v. Hotfile'', where Judge [[Kathleen M. Williams]] granted a motion to deny the MPAA the usage of words whose appearance was primarily "pejorative". This list included the word "piracy", the use of which, the motion by the defense stated, serves no court purpose but to misguide and inflame the jury.<ref name="Hotfile_TF" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/844100/188004334-mpaa-piracy-ban.pdf|title=Omnibus Order|website=Assets.documentcloud.org|access-date=22 February 2022}}</ref>

==="Piracy"===
[[File:Alfred Schmidt pirated edition.jpg|thumb|left|Pirated edition of German philosopher [[Alfred Schmidt (philosopher)|Alfred Schmidt]] (Amsterdam, {{circa|1970}})]]

The term "piracy" has been used to refer to the unauthorized copying, distribution and selling of works in copyright.<ref name=Panethiere_p2>{{cite web| last = Panethiere| first = Darrell| title = The Persistence of Piracy: The Consequences for Creativity, for Culture, and for Sustainable Development| publisher = UNESCO e-Copyright Bulletin| date = July–September 2005| page = 2| url = http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/28696/11513329261panethiere_en.pdf/panethiere_en.pdf| archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080816063513/http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/28696/11513329261panethiere_en.pdf/panethiere_en.pdf| url-status = dead| archive-date = 16 August 2008}}</ref> In 1668 publisher John Hancock wrote of "some dishonest Booksellers, called Land-Pirats, who make it their practise to steal Impressions of other mens Copies" in the work ''A String of Pearls: or, The Best Things Reserved till Last'' by [[Thomas Brooks (Puritan)|Thomas Brooks]].<ref name="blayney">{{cite journal | title = Two Tales of Piracy | first = Peter W M | last =  Blayney|journal = The Library | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | date = March 2022 | pages = 3–24 | doi = 10.1093/library/22.3.3 | url = https://academic.oup.com/library/article/23/1/3/6546635 }}</ref> Over time the metaphor mostly used in the book-trade became more common, such that the use of the word 'pirate' itself to describe unauthorized publishing of books was attested to in [[Nathan Bailey]]'s 1736 dictionary ''[[An Universal Etymological English Dictionary]]'':

<blockquote>'One who lives by pillage and robbing on the sea. Also a plagiary'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=Nathan |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_030pPyvwS9MC/page/n620/mode/1up |title=An Universal Etymological English Dictionary |page=620 |date=1736|publisher=T. Cox at the Lamb under the Royal-Exchange }}</ref></blockquote>

The practice of labeling the infringement of exclusive rights in creative works as "piracy" predates statutory copyright law. Prior to the [[Statute of Anne]] in 1710, the [[Stationers' Company]] of London in 1557, received a [[royal charter]] giving the company a [[monopoly]] on publication and tasking it with enforcing the charter. Article 61 of the 1994 [[Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]] (TRIPs) requires [[criminal]] procedures and penalties in cases of "willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale."<ref name="Xuan_p208">{{Cite book| last = Correa| first = Carlos Maria|author2=Li, Xuan| title = Intellectual property enforcement: international perspectives| publisher = Edward Elgar Publishing | year = 2009| page = 208| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bN3o1uwpKF4C&pg=208| isbn = 978-1-84844-663-2 }}</ref> Piracy traditionally refers to acts of copyright infringement intentionally committed for financial gain, though more recently, copyright holders have described online copyright infringement, particularly in relation to [[peer-to-peer file sharing]] networks, as "piracy".<ref name="Panethiere_p2" />

[[Richard Stallman]] and the [[GNU Project]] have criticized the use of the word "piracy" in these situations, saying that publishers use the word to refer to "copying they don't approve of" and that "they [publishers] imply that it is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnapping and murdering the people on them."<ref>{{cite web |last = Stallman |first = Richard |author-link = Richard Stallman |title = Confusing Words and Phrases That Are Worth Avoiding |work = Free Software, Free Society: The Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman |publisher = GNU Press |access-date = 1 June 2010 |url = https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100531084316/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html| archive-date= 31 May 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

==="Theft"===
[[File:Copyright infringement diagram.svg|thumb|A common explanation for why copyright infringement is not theft is that the original copyright holder still possesses the work they made, unlike the theft of an object.]]
Copyright holders frequently refer to copyright infringement as [[theft]], "although such misuse has been rejected by legislatures and courts".<ref name=Patry92/> The slogan "[[Piracy is theft]]" was used beginning in the 1980s, and is still being used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ntk.net/2002/11/29/elspa.gif|format=GIF|title=Photographic image of 'Piracy is Theft' cartoon|website=Ntk.net|access-date=22 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/antipiracy.htm|title=CLASSIC ANTI-PIRACY ADS|website=Worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com}}</ref> In copyright law, infringement does not refer to theft of physical objects that take away the owner's possession, but an instance where a person exercises one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder without authorization.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Clough| first = Jonathan | title = Principles of Cybercrime | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2010| page = 221| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JVPnCqEuTksC&q=copyright+infringement+theft| isbn = 978-0-521-72812-6 }}</ref> Courts have distinguished between copyright infringement and theft.<ref name=Patry92>{{cite book|isbn=978-0-19-538564-9|title=Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars|last1=Patry|first1=William|date=2009|url=https://archive.org/details/moralpanicscopy00patr|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/moralpanicscopy00patr/page/92 92]|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |author-link=William F. Patry}}</ref> For instance, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] held in ''[[Dowling v. United States (1985)|Dowling v. United States]]'' (1985) that bootleg phonorecords did not constitute stolen property. Instead,

<blockquote>interference with copyright does not easily equate with theft, [[Conversion (law)|conversion]], or fraud. The Copyright Act even employs a separate term of art to define one who misappropriates a copyright: '[...] an infringer of the copyright.'</blockquote>

The court said that in the case of copyright infringement, the province guaranteed to the copyright holder by copyright law – certain [[exclusive right]]s – is invaded, but no control, physical or otherwise, is taken over the copyright, nor is the copyright holder wholly deprived of using the copyrighted work or exercising the exclusive rights held.<ref name=Dowling />

==="Freebooting"===
The term "freebooting" has been used to describe the unauthorized copying of online media, particularly videos, onto websites such as [[Facebook]], [[YouTube]] or [[Twitter]]. The word itself had already been in use since the 16th century, referring to pirates, and meant "looting" or "plundering". This form of the word – a [[portmanteau]] of "[[freeloading]]" and "[[bootleg recording|bootlegging]]" – was suggested by [[List of YouTubers|YouTuber]] and podcaster [[Brady Haran]] in the [[podcast]] ''[[Hello Internet]]''.<ref>{{cite web  |url = https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freeboot  |title = Freebooter  |access-date = 24 July 2017  |publisher = Merriam-Webster }}</ref><ref name=slatefreeboot /> Haran advocated the term in an attempt to find a phrase more emotive than "copyright infringement", yet more appropriate than "theft".<ref name=slatefreeboot>{{cite web|last1=Oremus|first1=Will|title=Facebook's Piracy Problem|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/07/freebooting_stolen_youtube_videos_going_viral_on_facebook.single.html|website=Slate|publisher=The Slate Group|access-date=9 March 2017|date=8 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Foxx|first1=Chris|title=Facebook announces new tools to tackle video theft|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34106475|publisher=BBC News|access-date=9 March 2017|date=31 August 2015}}</ref>

==Motivation==
Some of the motives for engaging in copyright infringement are the following:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/story_type/site_trail_story/interview-gabe-newell/ |title=Interview: Gabe Newell |publisher=Tcs.cam.ac.uk |date=24 November 2011 |access-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126125407/http://www.tcs.cam.ac.uk/story_type/site_trail_story/interview-gabe-newell/ |archive-date=26 November 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* Pricing{{snd}} unwillingness or inability to pay the price requested by the legitimate sellers
* Testing and evaluation{{snd}} try before paying for what may be bad value
* Unavailability{{snd}} no legitimate sellers providing the product in the language or country of the end-user: not yet launched there, already withdrawn from sales, never to be sold there, geographical restrictions on [[online distribution]] and international shipping
* Usefulness{{snd}} the legitimate product comes with various means ([[digital rights management|DRM]], [[regional lockout|region lock]], [[DVD region code]], [[Blu-ray Region Code|Blu-ray region code]]) of restricting legitimate use (backups, usage on devices of different vendors, offline usage) or comes with [[User operation prohibition|non-skippable advertisements and anti-piracy disclaimers]], which are removed in the unauthorized product, making it more desirable for the end-user
* Shopping experience{{snd}} no legitimate sellers providing the product with the required quality through [[online distribution]] and through a shopping system with the required level of user-friendliness
* Anonymity{{snd}} [[download]]ing works does not require identification whereas downloads directly from the website of the copyright owner often require a valid email address and/or other credentials
* Freedom of information{{snd}} opposition to copyright law in general

Sometimes only partial compliance with license agreements is the cause. For example, in 2013, the [[United States Army]] settled a lawsuit with [[Texas]]-based company Apptricity which makes software that allows the army to track their soldiers in real time. In 2004, the US Army paid the company a total of $4.5&nbsp;million for a license of 500 users while allegedly installing the software for more than 9000 users; the case was settled for US$50&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news|title=US agrees to pay $50m after 'piracy' of software|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25137089|access-date=21 April 2014|publisher=BBC News|date=28 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=US Army settles in $180 million software piracy case|url=https://www.foxnews.com/tech/us-army-settles-in-180-million-software-piracy-case/|access-date=21 April 2014|publisher=Fox News|date=2 December 2013}}</ref> Major anti-piracy organizations, like the [[BSA (The Software Alliance)|BSA]], conduct [[software licensing audit]]s regularly to ensure full compliance.<ref name="Inc1997">{{cite journal|author=IDG Network World Inc|journal=Network World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hhsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81|date=17 November 1997|title=Surviving an audit|page=81|issn=0887-7661}}</ref>

Cara Cusumano, director of the [[Tribeca Film Festival]], stated in April 2014: "Piracy is less about people not wanting to pay and more about just wanting the immediacy{{snd}}people saying, 'I want to watch Spiderman right now' and downloading it". The statement occurred during the third year that the festival used the Internet to present its content, while it was the first year that it featured a showcase of content producers who work exclusively online. Cusumano further explained that downloading behavior is not merely conducted by people who merely want to obtain content for free:

<blockquote>
I think that if companies were willing to put that material out there, moving forward, consumers will follow. It's just that [consumers] want to consume films online and they're ready to consume films that way and we're not necessarily offering them in that way. So it's the distribution models that need to catch up. People will pay for the content.<ref name="Cara">{{cite news|title=Tribeca Film Festival programmer urges film industry to forget piracy and embrace internet|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-17/film-industry-urged-to-forget-piracy-embrace-internet/5388156#comments|access-date=21 April 2014|publisher=ABC News|location=Australia|date=17 April 2014|author=Matt Eaton}}</ref></blockquote>

In response to Cusumano's perspective, [[Screen Producers Australia]] executive director Matt Deaner clarified the motivation of the film industry: "Distributors are usually wanting to encourage cinema-going as part of this process [of monetizing through returns] and restrict the immediate access to online so as to encourage the maximum number of people to go to the cinema." Deaner further explained the matter in terms of the Australian film industry, stating: "there are currently restrictions on quantities of tax support that a film can receive unless the film has a traditional cinema release."<ref name="Cara" />

In a study published in the ''Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics'', and reported on in early May 2014, researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the UK discussed findings from examining the illegal downloading behavior of 6,000 [[Finland|Finnish]] people, aged seven to 84. The list of reasons for downloading given by the study respondents included money saving; the ability to access material not on general release, or before it was released; and assisting artists to avoid involvement with record companies and movie studios.<ref name="Sam">{{cite news|title=Piracy study shows illegal downloaders more likely to pay for films than music|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/06/piracy-film-music-study-pay-illegal-download-damage?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2|access-date=12 May 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 May 2014|author=Samuel Gibbs}}</ref>

In a public talk between [[Bill Gates]], [[Warren Buffett]], and Brent Schlender at the University of Washington in 1998, Bill Gates commented on piracy as a [[means to an end]], whereby people who use [[Microsoft]] software illegally will eventually pay for it, out of familiarity, as a country's economy develops and legitimate products become more affordable to businesses and consumers:

<blockquote>
Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gates|first1=Bill|date=20 July 1998|title=The Bill & Warren Show|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/07/20/245683/index.htm|access-date=16 January 2015|website=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]|format=Digital newspaper archive}}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Developing world===
In [[Media Piracy in Emerging Economies]], the first independent comparative study of media piracy focused on [[Brazil]], [[India]], [[Russia]], [[South Africa]], [[Mexico]], [[Turkey]] and [[Bolivia]], "high prices for media goods, low incomes, and cheap digital technologies" are the chief factors that lead to the global spread of media piracy, especially in emerging markets.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|year=2011|title=Media Piracy in Emerging Economies|url=http://piracy.americanassembly.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MPEE-PDF-1.0.4.pdf|access-date=1 April 2013|website=[[The American Assembly]]|publisher=[[Social Science Research Council]]|pages=i|archive-date=22 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622180626/http://piracy.americanassembly.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/MPEE-PDF-1.0.4.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the study, even though digital piracy inflicts additional costs on the production side of media, it also offers the main access to media goods in developing countries. The strong tradeoffs that favor using digital piracy in developing economies dictate the current neglected law enforcement's toward digital piracy.<ref name=":0" />

In [[China]] as of 2013, the issue of digital infringement has not merely been legal, but social&nbsp;– originating from the high demand for cheap and affordable goods as well as the governmental connections of the businesses which produce such goods.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hua|first=Yu|author-link=Yu Hua|date=13 March 2013|title=Opinion {{!}} Stealing Books for the Poor|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/opinion/yu-stealing-books-for-the-poor.html|access-date=28 April 2013}}</ref>

===Motivations due to censorship===
There have been instances where a country's government bans a movie, resulting in the spread of copied videos and DVDs.  [[Romania]]n-born documentary maker Ilinca Calugareanu wrote a ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article telling the story of [[Irina Margareta Nistor]], a narrator for state TV under [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]]'s regime.  A visitor from the west gave her bootlegged copies of [[Cinema of the United States|American movies]], which she dubbed for secret viewings through Romania.  According to the article, she dubbed more than 3,000 movies and became the country's second-most famous voice after [[Ceauşescu]], even though no one knew her name until many years later.<ref>{{Cite news|date = 17 February 2014| title = VHS vs. Communism| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/opinion/vhs-vs-communism.html?hp&rref=opinion| access-date = 18 February 2014| work = The New York Times| first=Ilinca| last=Calugareanu}}</ref>

==Existing and proposed laws==
{{Main|History of copyright law|Digital Millennium Copyright Act|Protect IP Act|Stop Online Piracy Act|Software copyright}}
[[File:Pro piracy demonstration.jpg|thumb|Demonstration in [[Sweden]] in support of [[file sharing]], 2006]]
[[File:The Pirate Bay logo.svg|thumb|[[The Pirate Bay]] logo, a retaliation to the stereotypical image of piracy]]
[[List of countries' copyright length|Most countries]] extend copyright protections to authors of works. In countries with copyright legislation, enforcement of copyright is generally the responsibility of the copyright holder.<ref name=Xuan_p211>{{Cite book| last = Correa| first = Carlos Maria|author2=Li, Xuan| title = Intellectual property enforcement: international perspectives| publisher = Edward Elgar Publishing | year = 2009| page = 211| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bN3o1uwpKF4C&q=copyright+infringement+international+acta| isbn = 978-1-84844-663-2 }}</ref> However, in several jurisdictions there are also criminal penalties for copyright infringement.<ref>Irina D. Manta Spring 2011 [http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v24/24HarvJLTech469.pdf The Puzzle of Criminal Sanctions for Intellectual Property Infringement] Harvard Journal of Law & Technology 24(2):469–518</ref> According to the [[United States Chamber of Commerce|U.S. Chamber of Commerce]]'s 2021 IP Index, the nations with the lowest scores for copyright protection were [[Vietnam]], [[Pakistan]], [[Egypt]], [[Nigeria]], [[Brunei]], [[Algeria]], [[Venezuela]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>{{cite web|title=U.S. CHAMBER INTERNATIONAL IP INDEX 2021 (page 7)|url=https://www.uschamber.com/assets/archived/images/gipc_ipindex2021_execsummary.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214073514/https://www.uschamber.com/assets/archived/images/gipc_ipindex2021_execsummary.pdf|archive-date=14 December 2021|website=[[U.S. Chamber of Commerce]], [[Global Innovation Policy Center]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Dang Khoa|date=3 April 2021|title=Vietnam boosts intellectual property index score|url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-boosts-intellectual-property-index-score-4255824.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-24|website=[[VnExpress]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404053441/https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-boosts-intellectual-property-index-score-4255824.html |archive-date=2021-04-04 }}</ref>

==Civil law==
Copyright infringement in civil law is any violation of the exclusive rights of the owner. In U.S. law, these rights include reproduction, preparation of derivative works, distribution of copies by sale or rental, and public performances or displays.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/106|title=17 U.S. Code §&nbsp;106 – Exclusive rights in copyrighted works|publisher=LII / Legal Information Institute}}</ref>

In the United States, copyright infringement is sometimes confronted via [[lawsuit]]s in civil court, against alleged infringers directly or against providers of services and software that support unauthorized copying. For example, major motion-picture corporation MGM Studios filed suit against P2P file-sharing services Grokster and Streamcast for their contributory role in copyright infringement.<ref>McDonald, Paul, and Janet Wasko. The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. Print. p.202</ref> In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of MGM, holding that such services could be held liable for copyright infringement since they functioned and, indeed, willfully marketed themselves as venues for acquiring copyrighted movies. The ''[[MGM v. Grokster]]'' case did not overturn the earlier ''[[Sony v. Universal City Studios]]'' decision, but rather clouded the legal waters; future designers of software capable of being used for copyright infringement were warned.<ref>McDonald, Paul, and Janet Wasko. The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008. Print.p.203</ref>

In the United States, copyright term has been extended many times over<ref>{{cite web|url=http://copyright.gov/circs/circ1a.html |title=U.S. Copyright Office&nbsp;– Information Circular |publisher=Copyright.gov |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref> from the original term of 14 years with a single renewal allowance of 14 years, to the current term of the life of the author plus 70 years. If the work was produced under [[corporate authorship]] it may last 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is sooner.

Article 50 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires that signatory countries enable [[court]]s to remedy copyright infringement with injunctions and the destruction of infringing products, and award damages.<ref name="Xuan_p208" /> Some jurisdictions only allow actual, provable damages, and some, like the United States, allow for large [[statutory damage]] awards intended to deter would-be infringers and allow for compensation in situations where actual damages are difficult to prove.

In some jurisdictions, copyright or the right to enforce it can be contractually assigned to a third party which did not have a role in producing the work. When this outsourced litigator appears to have no intention of taking any copyright infringement cases to trial, but rather only takes them just far enough through the legal system to identify and exact settlements from suspected infringers, critics commonly refer to the party as a "[[copyright troll]]". Such practices have had mixed results in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.hsog.tk/2015/02/piracy-and-copyright-in-australia/|title = Piracy and Copyright in Australia|date = 19 February 2015|access-date = 19 February 2015|website = Howard Smith of Geelong|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150219143600/http://hsog.tk/2015/02/piracy-and-copyright-in-australia/|archive-date = 19 February 2015}}</ref>

===Criminal law===
{{Main|Criminal copyright law in the United States}}
Punishment of copyright infringement varies case-by-case across countries. Convictions may include jail time and/or severe fines for each instance of copyright infringement. In the United States, willful copyright infringement carries a maximum fine of $150,000 per instance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html |title=U.S. Copyright Office&nbsp;– Copyright Law: Chapter 5 |publisher=Copyright.gov |access-date=27 January 2012}}</ref>

Article 61 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires that signatory countries establish [[criminal]] procedures and penalties in cases of "willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale".<ref name=Xuan_p208 /> Copyright holders have demanded that states provide criminal sanctions for all types of copyright infringement.<ref name=Xuan_p211 />

The first criminal provision in [[U.S. copyright law]] was added in 1897, which established a misdemeanor penalty for "unlawful performances and representations of copyrighted dramatic and musical compositions" if the violation had been "willful and for profit".<ref>Act of 6 January 1897, ch. 4, 29 Stat. 481-82.</ref> Criminal copyright infringement requires that the infringer acted "for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain" ({{USC|17|506}}). To establish criminal liability, the [[prosecutor]] must first show the basic elements of copyright infringement: ownership of a valid copyright, and the violation of one or more of the copyright holder's exclusive rights. The government must then establish that [[defendant]] willfully infringed or, in other words, possessed the necessary ''[[mens rea]]''. [[Misdemeanor]] infringement has a very low threshold in terms of number of copies and the value of the infringed works.

The [[Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement|ACTA trade agreement]], signed in May 2011 by the United States, Japan, and the EU, requires that its parties add criminal penalties, including incarceration and fines, for copyright and trademark infringement, and obligated the parties to actively police for infringement.<ref name=Xuan_p211 /><ref name=Bitton>Miriam Bitton (2012) [http://www.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/backissues/v102/n1/1021_67.Bitton.pdf Rethinking the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement's Criminal Copyright Enforcement Measures] The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 102(1):67–117</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement&nbsp;– Summary of Key Elements Under Discussion| work = transparency paper| publisher = Swiss federation of Intellectual Property| date = November 2009| url = https://www.ige.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Juristische_Infos/e/transparency_paper.pdf| access-date = 8 June 2010 }}</ref>

''[[United States v. LaMacchia]]'' 871 F.Supp. 535 (1994) was a case decided by the [[United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts]] which ruled that, under the [[copyright]] and [[Computer crime|cybercrime]] laws effective at the time, committing copyright infringement for non-commercial motives could not be prosecuted under criminal copyright law. The ruling gave rise to what became known as the "LaMacchia Loophole", wherein criminal charges of [[fraud]] or copyright infringement would be dismissed under current legal standards, so long as there was no profit motive involved.<ref name="courtdecision">{{cite web |url=http://www.loundy.com/CASES/US_v_LaMacchia.html |title=United States of America v. David LaMacchia, Memorandum of Decision and Order on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss|date=28 December 1994}}</ref>

The United States [[NET Act|No Electronic Theft Act]] (NET Act), a federal law passed in 1997, in response to LaMacchia, provides for criminal prosecution of individuals who engage in copyright infringement under certain circumstances, even when there is no monetary profit or commercial benefit from the infringement. Maximum penalties can be five years in prison and up to $250,000 in [[Fine (penalty)|fines]]. The NET Act also raised [[statutory damages for copyright infringement|statutory damages]] by 50%. The court's ruling explicitly drew attention to the shortcomings of current law that allowed people to facilitate mass copyright infringement while being immune to prosecution under the [[Copyright Act of 1976|Copyright Act]].

Proposed laws such as the [[Stop Online Piracy Act]] broaden the definition of "willful infringement", and introduce felony charges for unauthorized [[media streaming]]. These bills are aimed towards defeating websites that carry or contain links to infringing content, but have raised concerns about domestic abuse and internet censorship.

===Non-commercial file sharing===
====Legality of downloading====
To an extent, copyright law in some countries permits downloading copyright-protected content for personal, noncommercial use. Examples include [[Canada]]<ref>{{cite news|date=7 April 2008|title=Your Interview: Michael Geist|work=[[CBC News]]|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourinterview/2008/04/michael_geist.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412063751/http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourinterview/2008/04/michael_geist.html|archive-date=12 April 2008|quote=Downloading music for personal, non-commercial purposes is arguably legal in Canada due to the private copying levy which places a levy on blank media such as blank CDs. The private copying levy does not extend to video, as it only covers sound recordings. Making a personal copy of a music CDs is also covered by the private copying levy.}}</ref> and [[European Union]] (EU) member states like [[Poland]].<ref>{{cite news | url = http://prawokultury.pl/publikacje/podrecznik-dozwolony-uzytek-prywatny | title = Dozwolony użytek prywatny | access-date =1 January 2014 | publisher = Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska}}</ref>

The personal copying exemption in the copyright law of EU member states stems from the [[Information Society Directive]] of 2001, which is generally devised to allow EU members to enact laws sanctioning making copies without authorization, as long as they are for personal, noncommercial use. The Directive was not intended to legitimize file-sharing, but rather the common practice of [[space shifting]] copyright-protected content from a legally purchased [[compact disc|CD]] (for example) to certain kinds of devices and media, provided rights holders are compensated and no copy protection measures are circumvented. Rights-holder compensation takes various forms, depending on the country, but is generally either a levy on "recording" devices and media, or a tax on the content itself. In some countries, such as Canada, the applicability of such laws to copying onto general-purpose storage devices like computer hard drives, portable media players, and phones, for which no levies are collected, has been the subject of debate and further efforts to reform copyright law.

In some countries, the personal copying exemption explicitly requires that the content being copied be obtained legitimately – i.e., from authorized sources, not file-sharing networks. In April 2014, the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]] ruled that "national legislation which makes no distinction between private copies made from lawful sources and those made from counterfeited or pirated sources cannot be tolerated."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-04/cp140058en.pdf | date=10 April 2014 |title=The amount of the levy payable for making private copies of a protected work may not take unlawful reproductions into account |publisher=Court of Justice of the European Union}}</ref>

====Legality of uploading====
Although downloading or other private copying is sometimes permitted, public distribution – by uploading or otherwise offering to share copyright-protected content – remains illegal in most, if not all, countries. For example, in Canada, even though it was once legal to download any copyrighted file as long as it was for noncommercial use, it was still illegal to distribute the copyrighted files (e.g. by uploading them to a [[P2P network]]).<ref>{{cite news|date=12 December 2003|url=http://news.cnet.com/Canada+deems+P2P+downloading+legal/2100-1025_3-5121479.html?tag=st.rc.targ_mb
|title=Canada deems P2P downloading legal|access-date=27 December 2012|publisher=CNET News}}</ref>

====Relaxed penalties====
Some countries, like Canada and Germany, have limited the penalties for non-commercial copyright infringement. For example, Germany has passed a bill to limit the fine for individuals accused of sharing movies and series to €800–900. Canada's [[Copyright Modernization Act]] claims that statutory damages for non-commercial copyright infringement are capped at C$5,000 but this only applies to copies that have been made without the breaking of any "digital lock." However, this only applies to "bootleg distribution" and not non-commercial use.<ref>For a discussion, see [http://copyright.infringementadvisor.com/2012/11/5000-cap-on-non-commercial-copyright.html Copyright Infringement Advisor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150715/http://copyright.infringementadvisor.com/2012/11/5000-cap-on-non-commercial-copyright.html |date=13 April 2014 }} : ''Cap on Non-Commercial Copyright Damages''</ref>

===DMCA and anti-circumvention laws===
Title I of the U.S. [[DMCA]], the [[WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act]] has provisions that prevent persons from "circumvent[ing] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work". Thus if a distributor of copyrighted works has some kind of software, [[dongle]] or password access device installed in instances of the work, any attempt to bypass such a [[copy protection]] scheme may be [[cause of action|actionable]]&nbsp;– though the US Copyright Office is currently{{clarify timeframe|date=November 2020}} reviewing anticircumvention rulemaking under DMCA&nbsp;– anti-circumvention exemptions that have been in place under the DMCA include those in software designed to filter websites that are generally seen to be inefficient (child safety and public library website filtering software) and the circumvention of copy protection mechanisms that have malfunctioned, have caused the instance of the work to become inoperable or which are no longer supported by their manufacturers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://copyright.gov/title17/92chap12.html|title=U.S. Copyright Office – Copyright Law: Chapter 12|work=copyright.gov}}</ref> According to ''Abby House Media Inc. v. Apple Inc.'', it is legal to point users to DRM-stripping software and inform them how to use it because of lack of evidence that DRM stripping leads to copyright infringement.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.eff.org/document/abbey-house-media-v-apple-inc|title=Abbey House Media v. Apple Inc|date=10 December 2014|newspaper=Electronic Frontier Foundation|access-date=30 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://gizmodo.com/its-perfectly-legal-to-tell-people-how-to-remove-drm-1670223538|title=It's Perfectly Legal to Tell People How to Remove DRM|last=Higgins |first=Parker |newspaper=Gizmodo|access-date=30 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2014/12/11/drm-stripping-software-not-illegal/|title=Telling people how to remove DRM isn't illegal|website=Engadget|date=12 December 2014 |access-date=30 November 2016}}</ref>

===Online intermediary liability===
Whether Internet intermediaries are liable for copyright infringement by their users is a subject of debate and court cases in a number of countries.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 2| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref>

====Definition of intermediary====
Internet intermediaries were formerly understood to be [[internet service providers]] (ISPs). However, questions of liability have also emerged in relation to other Internet infrastructure intermediaries, including Internet backbone providers, cable companies and mobile communications providers.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| pages = 5–6| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date = 1 September 2010}}</ref>

In addition, intermediaries are now also generally understood to include [[Internet portals]], software and games providers, those providing virtual information such as interactive forums and comment facilities with or without a [[moderation system]], aggregators of various kinds, such as [[news aggregators]], [[universities]], [[libraries]] and [[archives]], [[web search engines]], [[chat rooms]], [[web blogs]], [[mailing lists]], and any website which provides access to third party content through, for example, [[hyperlinks]], a crucial element of the [[World Wide Web]].

====Litigation and legislation concerning intermediaries====
Early court cases focused on the liability of [[Internet service provider]]s (ISPs) for hosting, transmitting or publishing user-supplied content that could be actioned under civil or criminal law, such as [[libel]] or [[pornography]].<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 4| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref> As different content was considered in different legal systems, and in the absence of common definitions for "ISPs", "bulletin boards" or "online publishers", early law on online intermediaries' liability varied widely from country to country.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

The debate has shifted away from questions about liability for specific content, including that which may infringe copyright, towards whether online intermediaries should be generally responsible for content accessible through their services or infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 5| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref>

The U.S. [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (1998) and the European [[E-Commerce Directive]] (2000) provide online intermediaries with limited statutory immunity from liability for copyright infringement. Online intermediaries hosting content that infringes copyright are not liable, so long as they do not know about it and take actions once the infringing content is brought to their attention. In U.S. law this is characterized as "[[Safe harbor (law)|safe harbor]]" provisions. Under European law, the governing principles for Internet Service Providers are "mere conduit", meaning that they are neutral 'pipes' with no knowledge of what they are carrying; and 'no obligation to monitor' meaning that they cannot be given a general mandate by governments to monitor content. These two principles are a barrier for certain forms of online copyright enforcement and they were the reason behind an attempt to amend the European [[Telecoms Package]] in 2009 to support new measures against copyright infringement.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Horten| first = Monica | title = The Copyright Enforcement Enigma&nbsp;– Internet Politics and the Telecoms Package | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | year = 2012| pages = 104–106| url = http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=526246| isbn =978-0-230-32171-7}}</ref>

====Peer-to-peer issues====
[[Peer-to-peer file sharing]] intermediaries have been denied access to safe harbor provisions in relation to copyright infringement. Legal action against such intermediaries, such as [[Napster]], are generally brought in relation to principles of [[secondary liability]] for copyright infringement, such as [[contributory liability]] and [[vicarious liability]].<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 10| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Torrentcomp small.gif|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Animation showing seven remote computers exchanging data with an 8th (local) computer over a network |The [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent protocol]]: In this animation, the colored bars beneath all of the seven clients in the upper region above represent the file, with each color representing an individual piece of the file. After the initial pieces transfer from the seed (large system at the bottom), the pieces are individually transferred from client to client. The original seeder only needs to send out one copy of the file for all the clients to receive a copy.]]
These types of intermediaries do not host or transmit infringing content, themselves, but may be regarded in some courts as encouraging, enabling or facilitating infringement by users. These intermediaries may include the author, publishers, and marketers of [[peer-to-peer]] networking software, and the websites that allow users to download such software. In the case of the BitTorrent protocol, intermediaries may include the [[torrent tracker]] and any websites or search engines which facilitate access to [[torrent file]]s. Torrent files do not contain copyrighted content, but they may refer to files that do, and they may point to trackers which coordinate the sharing of those files. Some torrent indexing and search sites, such as The Pirate Bay, now encourage the use of [[magnet URI scheme|magnet links]], instead of direct links to torrent files, creating another layer of indirection; using such links, torrent files are obtained from other peers, rather than from a particular website.

Since the late 1990s, copyright holders have taken legal actions against a number of peer-to-peer intermediaries, such as pir, [[Grokster]], [[eMule]], [[SoulSeek]], [[BitTorrent (company)|BitTorrent]] and [[Limewire]], and case law on the liability of Internet service providers (ISPs) in relation to copyright infringement has emerged primarily in relation to these cases.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 7| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref>

Nevertheless, whether and to what degree any of these types of intermediaries have secondary liability is the subject of ongoing litigation. The decentralised structure of [[peer-to-peer networks]], in particular, does not sit easily with existing laws on online intermediaries' liability. The BitTorrent protocol established an entirely decentralised network architecture in order to distribute large files effectively. Recent developments in peer-to-peer technology towards more complex network configurations are said to have been driven by a desire to avoid liability as intermediaries under existing laws.<ref>{{cite web| last1 = Edwards| first1 = Lilian | last2 = Waelde| first2 = Charlotte| title = Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright Infringement| work = Keynote paper at WIPO Workshop on Online Intermediaries and Liability for Copyright, Geneva| publisher = World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)| year = 2005| page = 9| url = http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2305/1/wipo-onlineintermediaries.pdf| access-date =1 September 2010}}</ref>

==Limitations==
Copyright law does not grant authors and publishers absolute control over the use of their work. Only certain types of works and kinds of uses are protected;<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Chris|title=Pirating copyrighted content is legal in Europe, if done correctly|url=http://bgr.com/2014/06/05/streaming-movies-and-tv-shows-for-free/|website=Bgr.com|date=6 June 2014|publisher=Boy Genius Report|access-date=20 December 2014}}</ref> only unauthorized uses of protected works can be said to be infringing.

===Non-infringing uses===
Article 10 of the Berne Convention mandates that national laws provide for limitations to copyright, so that copyright protection does not extend to certain kinds of uses that fall under what the treaty calls "fair practice", including but not limited to minimal quotations used in journalism and education.<ref name=Berne10>Berne Convention [http://zvon.org/law/r/bern.html#p~13 Article&nbsp;10], [http://zvon.org/law/r/bern.html#p~14 article 10bis].</ref> The laws implementing these [[limitations and exceptions to copyright|limitations and exceptions]] for uses that would otherwise be infringing broadly fall into the categories of either [[fair use]] or [[fair dealing]]. In common law systems, these fair practice statutes typically enshrine principles underlying many earlier judicial precedents,<!--see [[Copyright Act of 1976#Fair use]], also uncited--> and are considered essential to [[freedom of speech]].<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Eldred v. Ashcroft |vol=537 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=186 |pinpoint=219, 221 |court=U.S. |date=2003 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=537&page=186 }} in which the court describes fair use as a "free speech safeguard" and a "First Amendment accommodation"</ref>

Another example is the practice of [[compulsory license|compulsory licensing]], which is where the law forbids copyright owners from denying a license for certain uses of certain kinds of works, such as compilations and live performances of music. Compulsory licensing laws generally say that for certain uses of certain works, no infringement occurs as long as a [[royalties|royalty]], at a rate determined by law rather than private negotiation, is paid to the copyright owner or representative [[copyright collective]]. Some fair dealing laws, such as Canada's, include similar royalty requirements.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/canadauscopyright.pdf |title=Canada&nbsp;– U.S. Copyright Comparison |publisher=Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada |access-date=14 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430014709/http://library.concordia.ca/help/copyright/canadauscopyright.pdf |archive-date=30 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In Europe, the copyright infringement case ''[[Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd v Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd]]'' had two prongs; one concerned whether a [[news aggregator]] service infringed the copyright of the news generators; the other concerned whether the temporary [[web cache]] created by the [[web browser]] of a consumer of the aggregator's service, also infringed the copyright of the news generators.<ref name=gigaomEU>{{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=David|title=You can't break copyright by looking at something online, Europe's top court rules|url=https://gigaom.com/2014/06/05/you-cant-break-copyright-by-looking-at-something-online-europes-top-court-rules/ |date=5 June 2014|publisher=Gigaom|access-date=20 December 2014|archive-date=7 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107011242/https://gigaom.com/2014/06/05/you-cant-break-copyright-by-looking-at-something-online-europes-top-court-rules/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The first prong was decided in favor of the news generators; in June 2014 the second prong was decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which ruled that the temporary web cache of consumers of the aggregator did not infringe the copyright of the news generators.<ref name=gigaomEU /><ref>{{cite web|title=Case C‑360/13|url=http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document_print.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30d5306c74c20c5b45538245c60808b63951.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxuNbxr0?doclang=EN&text=&pageIndex=0&part=1&mode=DOC&docid=153302&occ=first&dir=&cid=93105|website=Court of Justice of the European Union|access-date=21 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CJEU Judgment: No Copyright Infringement in Mere Web Viewing|url=http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ne37471|website=Scl.org|date=5 June 2014|publisher=SCL – The IT Law Community (UK)|access-date=21 December 2014|archive-date=20 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220061235/http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ne37471|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Non-infringing types of works===
In order to qualify for protection, a work must be an expression with a degree of originality, and it must be in a fixed medium, such as written down on paper or recorded digitally.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zvon.org/law/r/bern.html#p~2|title=Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Text 1971)|website=zvon.org}}</ref><ref name=17USC102b>{{UnitedStatesCode|17|102(b)}}, for example.</ref> The idea itself is not protected. That is, a copy of someone else's original idea is not infringing unless it copies that person's unique, tangible expression of the idea. Some of these limitations, especially regarding what qualifies as original, are embodied only in case law (judicial precedent), rather than in statutes.

In the United States, for example, copyright case law contains a [[substantial similarity]] requirement to determine whether the work was copied. Likewise, courts may require computer software to pass an [[Abstraction-Filtration-Comparison test]] (AFC Test)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifosslr.org/ifosslr/article/download/30/54 |title=Copyright in Open Source Software&nbsp;– Understanding the Boundaries |publisher=Ifosslr.org |access-date=20 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.linux.com/news/feature-8-cores-budget-building-better-workstation/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213110414/http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113252|url-status=dead|title=Feature: 8 Cores on a Budget- Building a Better Workstation|date=11 September 2008|archive-date=13 February 2010}}</ref> to determine if it is too abstract to qualify for protection, or too dissimilar to an original work to be considered infringing. Software-related case law has also clarified that the amount of R&D, effort and expense put into a work's creation does not affect copyright protection.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ladas.com/Patents/Computer/SoftwareAndCopyright/Softwa06.html#fn30 |title=3.3 The "Abstraction, Filtration, Comparison" Test |publisher=Ladas.com |access-date=27 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127214713/http://www.ladas.com/Patents/Computer/SoftwareAndCopyright/Softwa06.html#fn30 |archive-date=27 January 2012 }}</ref>

Evaluation of alleged copyright infringement in a court of law may be substantial; the time and costs required to apply these tests vary based on the size and complexity of the copyrighted material. Furthermore, there is no standard or universally accepted test; some courts have rejected the AFC Test, for example, in favor of narrower criteria.

==Preventive measures==
The BSA outlined four strategies that governments can adopt to reduce software piracy rates in its 2011 piracy study results:

* "Increase public education and raise awareness about software piracy and IP rights in cooperation with industry and law enforcement."
* "Modernize protections for software and other copyrighted materials to keep pace with new innovations such as cloud computing and the proliferation of networked mobile devices."
* "Strengthen enforcement of IP laws with dedicated resources, including specialized enforcement units, training for law enforcement and judiciary officials, improved cross-border cooperation among law enforcement agencies, and fulfillment of obligations under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)."
* "Lead by example by using only fully licensed software, implementing software asset management (SAM) programs, and promoting the use of legal software in state-owned enterprises, and among all contractors and suppliers."<ref name="Study" />

===Legal===
Corporations and legislatures take different types of preventive measures to deter copyright infringement, with much of the focus since the early 1990s being on preventing or reducing digital methods of infringement. Strategies include education, civil and criminal legislation, and international agreements,<ref name="Gopal">Ram D. Gopal and G. Lawrence Sanders. "International Software Piracy: Analysis of Key Issues and Impacts". Information Systems Research 9, no. 4 (December 1998): 380–397.</ref> as well as publicizing anti-piracy litigation successes and imposing forms of digital media copy protection, such as controversial [[digital rights management|DRM]] technology and [[anti-circumvention]] laws, which limit the amount of control consumers have over the use of products and content they have purchased.

Legislatures have reduced infringement by narrowing the scope of what is considered infringing. Aside from upholding international copyright treaty obligations to provide general limitations and exceptions,<ref name=Berne10 /> nations have enacted compulsory licensing laws applying specifically to digital works and uses. For example, in the U.S., the DMCA, an implementation of the 1996 [[WIPO Copyright Treaty]], considers digital transmissions of audio recordings to be licensed as long as a designated copyright collective's royalty and reporting requirements are met.<ref>{{UnitedStatesCode|17|514(f)–(g)}}; see [[SoundExchange]].</ref> The DMCA also provides safe harbor for digital service providers whose users are suspected of copyright infringement, thus reducing the likelihood that the providers themselves will be considered directly infringing.<ref>{{UnitedStatesCode|17|512(a)–(d)}}; see [[Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act]].</ref>

Some copyright owners voluntarily reduce the scope of what is considered infringement by employing relatively permissive, "open" licensing strategies: rather than privately negotiating license terms with individual users who must first seek out the copyright owner and ask for permission, the copyright owner publishes and distributes the work with a prepared license that anyone can use, as long as they adhere to certain conditions. This has the effect of reducing infringement – and the burden on courts – by simply permitting certain types of uses under terms that the copyright owner considers reasonable. Examples include [[free software license]]s, like the [[GNU General Public License]] (GPL), and the [[Creative Commons license]]s, which are predominantly applied to visual and literary works.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://creativecommons.org/licenses/|title=Creative Commons – About The Licenses|work=creativecommons.org}}</ref>

===Protected distribution===
To maximize revenue, pre-COVID-19 [[film distribution]] typically began with [[movie theaters]] (theatrical window), on average approximately {{frac|16|1|2}} weeks,<ref name="wsj">{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704337004575059713216224640|title=Movie Studios Push to Unlock DVD Release Dates – WSJ|author1 =Ethan Smith |author2 =Lauren A. E. Schuker|date=12 February 2010|website=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>
before the release to [[Blu-ray]] and [[DVD-Video|DVD]] (entering its video window). During the theatrical window, digital versions of films are often transported in [[data storage device]]s by couriers rather than by [[data transmission]].<ref name=Crisp>{{cite book|title=Besides the Screen: Moving Images through Distribution, Promotion and Curation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NO_BwAAQBAJ&pg=PT69|author=Virginia Crisp, Gabriel Menotti Gonring|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2015|isbn=978-1-137-47103-1}}</ref> The data can be [[encrypted]], with the key being made to work only at specific times in order to prevent leakage between screens.<ref name=Crisp />

{{further|Copy protection}}

===Watermarking===
[[Coded Anti-Piracy]] marks can be added to films to identify the source of illegal copies and shut them down. In 2006 a notable example of using [[Coded anti-piracy|Coded Anti-Piracy]] marks resulted in a man being arrested<ref>{{cite web|last=Olsen|first=Stefanie|title=Man nabbed for uploading Oscar 'screener'|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/man-nabbed-for-uploading-oscar-screener/|access-date=2020-08-09|website=CNET|date=22 February 2007}}</ref> for uploading a [[Screener (promotional)|screener's]] copy of the movie ''[[Flushed Away]]''. Some [[photocopier]]s use [[Machine Identification Code]] dots for similar purposes.{{according to whom|date=December 2022}} The [[EURion constellation]] on banknotes is used to prevent copying to make [[counterfeit currency]].

==Economic impact of copyright infringement==
Organizations disagree on the scope and magnitude of copyright infringement's [[Free rider problem|free rider]] economic effects and public support for the copyright regime.

The [[European Commission]] funded a study<ref>{{cite web|url=https://netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2017/09/displacement_study.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621192325/https://netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2017/09/displacement_study.pdf|archive-date=21 June 2018|title=Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted content in the EU, Final Report}}</ref> to analyze "the extent to which unauthorised online consumption of copyrighted materials (music, audiovisual, books and video games) displaces sales of online and offline legal content", across [[Germany]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Spain]], [[France]], [[Poland]] and [[Sweden]]; the public funding behind the study provided a necessary basis for its neutrality.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ted.europa.eu/TED/error-pages/expiredUDLLink.do|title=Expired UDL link – TED Tenders Electronic Daily|website=ted.europa.eu}}</ref> 30,000 users, including minors between 14 and 17 years, were surveyed among September and October 2014. While a negative impact was found for the film industry, videogame sales were positively affected by illegal consumption, possibly due to "the industry being successful in converting illegal users to paying users" and employing player-oriented strategies (for example, by providing additional bonus levels or items in the gameplay for a fee); finally, no evidence was found for any claims of sales displacement in the other market sectors. According to the [[European Digital Rights]] association, the study may have been censored: specifically, as of 2018, the European Commission has not published the results, except in the part where the film industry was found to be adversely affected by illegal content consumption. Access to the study was requested and obtained by [[Member of the European Parliament]] [[Felix Reda]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Did the EU Commission hide a study that did not suit their agenda?|url=https://edri.org/did-the-eu-commission-hide-a-study/|website=[[European Digital Rights]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/estimating_displacement_rates_of|title=Estimating displacement rates of copyrighted content in the EU – a Freedom of Information request to Secretariat General of the European Commission|date=27 July 2017|website=AsktheEU.org}}</ref>

In relation to computer software, the [[Business Software Alliance]] (BSA) claimed in its 2011 piracy study: "Public opinion continues to support intellectual property (IP) rights: Seven PC users in 10 support paying innovators to promote more technological advances."<ref name="Study" />

Following consultation with experts on copyright infringement, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) clarified in 2010 that "estimating the economic impact of IP [intellectual property] infringements is extremely difficult, and assumptions must be used due to the absence of data", while "it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the net effect of counterfeiting and piracy on the economy as a whole."<ref name="Gao">{{cite web|title=INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods|url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/310/303057.pdf|work=Report to Congressional Committees|publisher=United States Government Accountability Office|access-date=21 April 2014|author=United States Government Accountability Office|date=April 2010}}</ref>

The U.S. GAO's 2010 findings regarding the great difficulty of accurately gauging the economic impact of copyright infringement was reinforced within the same report by the body's research into three commonly cited estimates that had previously been provided to U.S. agencies. The GAO report explained that the sources – a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) estimate, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) press release and a Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association estimate – "cannot be substantiated or traced back to an underlying data source or methodology."<ref name="Gao" />

Deaner explained the importance of rewarding the "investment risk" taken by motion picture studios in 2014:

<blockquote>
Usually, movies are hot because a distributor has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting the product in print and TV and other forms of advertising. The major Hollywood studios spend millions on this process with marketing costs rivaling the costs of production. They are attempting then to monetise through returns that can justify the investment in both the costs of promotion and production.<ref name="Cara" /></blockquote>

===Motion picture industry estimates===
In 2008, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reported that its six major member companies lost US$6.1&nbsp;billion to piracy.<ref>{{cite news|title=Movie Pirates|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-03-20/news/movie-pirates/|access-date=21 April 2014|newspaper=Houston Press|date=19 March 2008|author=Shea Serrano|archive-date=21 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021064429/http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-03-20/news/movie-pirates/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A 2009 ''Los Angeles Daily News'' article then cited a loss figure of "roughly $20 billion a year" for Hollywood studios.<ref>{{cite news|title=Film piracy heads north of border|url=http://www.dailynews.com/20090407/film-piracy-heads-north-of-border|access-date=21 April 2014|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|date=6 April 2009|author=Bob Strauss}}</ref> According to a 2013 article in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', industry estimates in the United States range between $6.1B to $18.5B per year.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bialik|first1=Carl|title=Putting a Price Tag on Film Piracy|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324600704578402850894445768|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=9 October 2021|date=6 April 2013}}</ref>

In an early May 2014 article in ''The Guardian'', an annual loss figure of US$20.5&nbsp;billion was cited for the movie industry. The article's basis is the results of a [[University of Portsmouth]] study that only involved Finnish participants, aged between seven and 84. The researchers, who worked with 6,000 participants, stated: "Movie pirates are also more likely to cut down their piracy if they feel they are harming the industry compared with people who illegally download music".<ref name="Sam" />

However, a study conducted on data from sixteen countries between 2005 and 2013, many of which had enacted anti-piracy measures to increase box office revenues of movies, found no significant increases in any markets attributable to policy interventions, which calls into doubt the claimed negative economic effects of digital piracy on the film industry.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McKenzie|first=Jordi|title=Graduated response policies to digital piracy: Do they increase box office revenues of movies?|journal=Information Economics and Policy|volume=38|pages=1–11|doi=10.1016/j.infoecopol.2016.12.004|year=2017}}</ref>

===Software industry estimates===
[[Psion (company)|Psion Software]] claimed in 1983 that software piracy cost it £2.9&nbsp;million a year, 30% of its revenue.<ref name="gosnell19830512">{{Cite magazine |last=Gosnell |first=Kelvin |date=12 May 1983 |title=Happy days for software pirates |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqPnItwGIWMC&pg=PA376 |magazine=New Scientist |publisher=Reed Business Information |volume=98 |issue=1357 |pages=376–377 |issn=0262-4079 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright]] said that ''[[Raid on Bungeling Bay]]'' sold 20,000 copies for the Commodore 64 in the US, but 800,000 cartridges for the [[Nintendo Famicom]] with a comparable installed base in Japan, "because it's a cartridge system [so] there's virtually no piracy".<ref name="wright2011">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bCjollo4ng | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/7bCjollo4ng| archive-date=2021-10-28|title=Classic Game Postmortem – Raid on Bungeling Bay |last=Wright |first=Will |type=YouTube |publisher=Game Developers Conference |year=2011 |time=36:20 |access-date=9 April 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

According to a 2007 [[BSA (The Software Alliance)|BSA]] and [[International Data Corporation]] (IDC) study, the five countries with the highest rates of software piracy were: 1. [[Armenia]] (93%); 2. [[Bangladesh]] (92%); 3. [[Azerbaijan]] (92%); 4. [[Moldova]] (92%); and 5. [[Zimbabwe]] (91%). According to the study's results, the five countries with the lowest piracy rates were: 1. the U.S. (20%); 2. [[Luxembourg]] (21%); 3. New Zealand (22%); 4. Japan (23%); and 5. [[Austria]] (25%). The 2007 report showed that the Asia-Pacific region was associated with the highest amount of loss, in terms of U.S. dollars, with $14,090,000, followed by the European Union, with a loss of $12,383,000; the lowest amount of U.S. dollars was lost in the Middle East/Africa region, where $2,446,000 was documented.<ref name="Fifth">{{cite web|year=2007|title=Fifth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study|url=http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2007/studies/2007_global_piracy_study.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524223938/http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2007/studies/2007_global_piracy_study.pdf|archive-date=24 May 2013|access-date=21 April 2014|website=[[BSA (The Software Alliance)]]}}</ref>

In its 2011 report, conducted in partnership with IDC and [[Ipsos|Ipsos Public Affairs]], the BSA stated: "Over half of the world's personal computer users – 57 percent – admit to pirating software." The ninth annual "BSA Global Software Piracy Study" claims that the "commercial value of this shadow market of pirated software" was worth US$63.4&nbsp;billion in 2011, with the highest commercial value of pirated PC software existent in the U.S. during that time period (US$9,773,000). According to the 2011 study, Zimbabwe was the nation with the highest piracy rate, at 92%, while the lowest piracy rate was present in the U.S., at 19%.<ref name="Study">{{cite web|title=Shadow Market&nbsp;– In Brief|url=http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-InBrief.pdf|work=2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study|publisher=Business Software Alliance (BSA)|access-date=21 April 2014|year=2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819054550/http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-InBrief.pdf|archive-date=19 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The GAO noted in 2010 that the BSA's research up until that year defined "piracy as the difference between total installed software and legitimate software sold, and its scope involved only packaged physical software."<ref name="Gao" />

===Music industry estimates===
In 2007, the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) reported that [[music piracy]] took $12.5&nbsp;billion from the U.S. economy. According to the study, musicians and those involved in the recording industry are not the only ones who experience losses attributed to music piracy. Retailers have lost over a billion dollars, while piracy has resulted in 46,000 fewer production-level jobs and almost 25,000 retail jobs. The U.S. government was also reported to suffer from music piracy, losing $422&nbsp; million in tax revenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.informationweek.com/music-piracy-costs-us-economy-125-billio/201801704|title=Music Piracy Costs U.S. Economy $12.5 Billion, Report Reveals|website=InformationWeek|date=22 August 2007|access-date=27 August 2019|archive-date=13 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013001908/http://www.informationweek.com/music-piracy-costs-us-economy-125-billio/201801704|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A 2007 study in the ''[[Journal of Political Economy]]'' found that the effect of music downloads on legal music sales was "statistically indistinguishable from zero".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Oberholzer-Gee|first1=Felix|date=February 2007|title=The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis|url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/1808/10115/1/The%20Effect%20of%20File%20Sharing%20on%20Record%20Sales%20-%20An%20Empirical%20Analysis.pdf|journal=[[Journal of Political Economy]]|volume=115|issue=1|pages=1–42|doi=10.1086/511995|hdl-access=free|hdl=1808/10115|s2cid=14114650}}</ref>

A report from 2013, released by the European Commission [[Joint Research Centre]] suggests that illegal music downloads have almost no effect on the number of legal music downloads. The study analyzed the behavior of 16,000 European music consumers and found that although music piracy negatively affects offline music sales, illegal music downloads had a positive effect on legal music purchases. Without illegal downloading, legal purchases were about two percent lower.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/about/jrc-site/seville|title=The JRC in Seville (Spain)|first=Dominique|last=Delehaye|date=19 November 2013|website=EU Science Hub |publisher=European Commission}}</ref>

The study has received criticism, particularly from the [[International Federation of the Phonographic Industry]], which believes the study is flawed and misleading. One argument against the research is that many music consumers only download music illegally. The IFPI also points out that music piracy affects not only online music sales but also multiple facets of the music industry, which is not addressed in the study.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://entertainment.time.com/2013/03/21/illegal-music-downloads-not-hurting-industry-study-claims/|title=Illegal Music Downloads Not Hurting Industry, Study Claims|first=Lily|last=Rothman|magazine=Time|date=21 March 2013|via=entertainment.time.com}}</ref>

===Media industry estimates===
In a March 2019 article, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that the [[Qatar]]-based [[beIN Media Group]] suffered "billions of dollars" of losses, following the unilateral cancellation of an exclusive contract it shared with the [[Asian Football Confederation]] (AFC) for the past 10 years. The decision by the AFC to invalidate its license for broadcasting rights to air games in [[Saudi Arabia]] came after the kingdom was accused of leading a piracy operation through its television broadcaster, [[beoutQ]], misappropriating sports content owned by [[beIN Sports]] since 2017, worth billions of dollars.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/sports/bein-media-qatar-saudi-arabia.html|title=Feud Over Soccer Piracy Deepens as A.F.C. Ends BeIN Sports Contract|access-date=12 March 2019|website=The New York Times|date=12 March 2019 |last1=Panja |first1=Tariq }}</ref>

In January 2020, the [[European Commission]] released a report on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries. The report named as many as 13 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, [[Indonesia]], and Saudi Arabia, the last being included for the first time. The report said piracy is "causing considerable harm to EU businesses" and high economic losses have occurred in Argentina, China, Ecuador and India. It also informed Saudi Arabia has not "taken sufficient steps to stop the infringement" caused via [[BeoutQ]], like other countries have, to minimize the extent of financial and economic loss.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2020/01/28/european-commission-calls-out-saudi-arabia-for-sports-piracy/|title=European Commission calls out Saudi Arabia for sports piracy|access-date=28 January 2020|website=Broadband TV News|date=28 January 2020}}</ref>

===Criticism of industry estimates===
Some claims made by industry representatives have been criticized as overestimating the monetary loss caused by copyright infringement.
In one example, the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]] claimed damages against [[LimeWire]] totaling $75&nbsp;trillion&nbsp;– more than the global GDP&nbsp;– with the judge overseeing the case ruling that such claims were "absurd".<ref>{{cite web|last=Vijayan|first=Jaikumar|title=Judge rules punitive damages against LimeWire 'absurd'|url=http://news.techworld.com/sme/3267255/judge-rules-punitive-damages-against-limewire-absurd/|date=28 March 2011|access-date=8 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209035935/http://news.techworld.com/sme/3267255/judge-rules-punitive-damages-against-limewire-absurd/|archive-date=9 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The $75&nbsp;trillion figure had been obtained by counting each song downloaded as an infringement of copyright. After the conclusion of the case, LimeWire agreed to pay $105&nbsp;million to RIAA.<ref>{{cite news |title=LimeWire Settlement: RIAA, Record Labels Win $105M, But Artists May Not Benefit |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/17/riaa-and-record-labels-wi_n_862725.html |work=Huffington Post|first=Travis |last=Korte |date=17 May 2011}}</ref>

In another decision, US District Court Judge [[James Parker Jones|James P. Jones]] found that the "RIAA's request problematically assumes that every illegal download resulted in a lost sale",<ref>''[http://www.vawd.uscourts.gov/OPINIONS/JONES/207CR15REST.PDF United States of America v. Daniel Dove]'', 7 November 2008</ref> indicating profit/loss estimates were likely extremely off.

Critics of industry estimates argue that those who use peer-to-peer sharing services, or practice "piracy" are actually more likely to pay for music. A [[Jupiter Research]] study in 2000 found that "Napster users were 45 percent more likely to have increased their music purchasing habits than online music fans who don't use the software were."<ref>Aram Sinnreich, "Digital Music Subscriptions: Post-Napster Product Formats", Jupiter Research (2000).</ref> This indicated that users of peer-to-peer sharing did not hurt the profits of the music industry, but in fact may have increased it.

Professor Aram Sinnreich, in his book ''The Piracy Crusade'', states that the connection between declining music sales and the creation of peer-to-peer file sharing sites such as Napster is tenuous, based on correlation rather than causation. He argues that the industry at the time was undergoing artificial expansion, what he describes as a {{"'}}perfect bubble'—a confluence of economic, political, and technological forces that drove the aggregate value of music sales to unprecedented heights at the end of the twentieth century".

Sinnreich cites multiple causes for the [[economic bubble]], including the CD format replacement cycle; the shift from music specialty stores to wholesale suppliers of music and 'minimum advertised pricing'; and the economic expansion of 1991–2001. He believes that with the introduction of new digital technologies, the bubble burst, and the industry suffered as a result.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry's War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties|last=Sinnreich|first=Aram|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|year=2013|isbn=978-1-62534-052-8|pages=94–118}}</ref>

===Economic impact of infringement in emerging markets===
The 2011 Business Software Alliance Piracy Study Standard estimated the total commercial value of illegally copied software to be at $59&nbsp;billion in 2010, with emerging markets accounting for $31.9&nbsp;billion, over half of the total. Furthermore, mature markets for the first time received fewer PC shipments than emerging economies in 2010. In addition with software infringement rates of 68 percent comparing to 24 percent of mature markets, emerging markets thus possessed the majority of the global increase in the commercial value of counterfeit software. China continued to have the highest commercial value of such software at $8.9&nbsp;billion among developing countries and second in the world behind the US at $9.7&nbsp;billion in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|year=2012|title=Shadow Market: 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study|url=http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-Standard.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101095612/http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-Standard.pdf|archive-date=1 November 2013|access-date=1 April 2013|website=[[BSA (The Software Alliance)]]|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Software piracy rate statistics&nbsp;– countries compared|url=http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_sof_pir_rat-crime-software-piracy-rate|access-date=27 January 2012|publisher=Nation Master}}</ref> In 2011, the Business Software Alliance announced that 83 percent of software deployed on PCs in Africa had been pirated (excluding South Africa).<ref>{{cite web|date=22 August 2011|title=Software Piracy (Infographic)|url=https://torrentfreak.com/software-piracy-110822/|website=[[TorrentFreak]]}}</ref>

Some countries distinguish corporate piracy from private use, which is tolerated as a welfare service.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} This is the leading reason developing countries refuse to accept or respect copyright laws. [[Traian Băsescu]], the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014, stated that "piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It set off the development of the IT industry in Romania."<ref>Nathan Davis (5 February 2007). [http://apcmag.com/thanks_for_letting_us_pirate.htm "Thanks for letting us pirate"]. ''[[APC (magazine)|APC Magazine]]''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817234137/http://apcmag.com/thanks_for_letting_us_pirate.htm|date=2011-08-17}}</ref>

==Pro-free-culture organizations==
{{Main|Anti-copyright|Free culture movement}}
* [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF)
* [[Open Source Initiative]] (OSI)
* [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] (EFF)
* [[Creative Commons]] (CC)
* [[Demand Progress]]
* [[Fight for the Future]]
* [[Pirate Party]]
* [[Plan S]], by major funders of scientific research

==Anti-copyright-infringement organizations==
* [[Business Software Alliance]] (BSA)
* [[Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft]] (CAAST)
* [[Entertainment Software Association]] (ESA)
* [[Federation Against Copyright Theft]] (FACT)
* [[Federation Against Software Theft]] (FAST)
* [[International Intellectual Property Alliance]] (IIPA)
* [[Copyright Alliance]]

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Abandonware]]
* ''[[In re Aimster Copyright Litigation]]''
* {{format link|Copy protection#Anti-piracy}}
* [[Copyright law of Australia]]
* [[Cable television piracy]]
* [[Center for Copyright Information]]
* [[Comparison of anti-plagiarism software]]
* ''[[Computer Associates Int. Inc. v. Altai Inc.]]''
* [[Copyfraud]]
* [[Copyleft]]
* [[Copyright aspects of downloading and streaming]]
* [[Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988]]
* [[Copyrighted content on file sharing networks]]
* [[Copyright Remedy Clarification Act]]
* [[Criminal remedies for copyright infringement]]
* ''[[Elektra Records Co. v. Gem Electronic Distributors, Inc.]]''
* [[Fair Use]]
* [[FBI]]
* [[Federation Against Copyright Theft]] (FACT)
* [[Intellectual property in China]]
* [[Internet Privacy Act]]
* ''[[Jacobsen v. Katzer]]''
* [[Legal aspects of copyright infringement]]
* [[Licence laundering]]
* [[Missionary Church of Kopimism]]
* [[Online piracy]]
* [[Open Letter to Hobbyists]]
* [[Pirated movie release types]]
* [[Plagiarism]]
* ''[[Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena]]''
* [[Product activation]]
* [[Public domain]]
* [[Radio music ripping]]
* [[Software copyright]]
* [[Software cracking]]
* [[Trade group efforts against file sharing]]
* [[Trans-Pacific Partnership]]
* [[Video copy detection]]
* [[Video game piracy]]
* [[Warez]]
* [[Windows Genuine Advantage]]
* [[World Anti-Piracy Observatory]] (WAPO)
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news|title=PIRATE LIBRARIES and the fight for open information|author=Hamerman, Sarah|work=The Media|date=11 September 2015|url=http://www.fvckthemedia.com/issue61/pirate-libraries}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Deka|first1= Maitrayee|date= 2017|title= Calculation in the pirate bazaars|journal= Journal of Cultural Economy|volume= 10|issue= 5|pages= 450–461|doi= 10.1080/17530350.2017.1352009|s2cid= 56318191|url= http://repository.essex.ac.uk/23285/1/Calculation_in_the_pirate_bazaars.pdf}}
* {{cite book|author=Horten, Monica |title= The Copyright Enforcement Enigma&nbsp;– Internet Politics and the Telecoms Package |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|date= 2012|isbn= 978-0-230-32171-7}}
* {{cite book|author=Johns, Adrian|title=Piracy. The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates|publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]]|date= 2009|isbn= 978-0-226-40118-8}}
* {{cite book|editor=Karaganis, Joe|title=Media Piracy in Emerging Economies|year=2011|publisher=Social Science Research Council|isbn=978-0-9841257-4-6|title-link=Media Piracy in Emerging Economies}}
* {{cite book | last = Rosen | first = Ronald | title = Music and Copyright | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford Oxfordshire | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-19-533836-2 }}
* {{cite web |last1=Abbott|last2=Madigan|last3=Mossoff|last4=Osenga|last5=Rosen |title=Holding States Accountable for Copyright Piracy |url=https://regproject.org/wp-content/uploads/Paper-Holding-States-Accountable-for-Copyright-Piracy.pdf |website=Regulatory Transparency Project |access-date=15 May 2021}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Intellectual property activism}}
{{Copyright law by country}}

[[Category:Copyright infringement| ]]
[[Category:Copyright law|Infringement]]
[[Category:Organized crime]]
[[Category:Organized crime activity]]
[[Category:Tort law]]
[[Category:Copyright infringement of software|*]]
[[Category:File sharing]]