Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted
material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's
exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it.
In many jurisdictions, such as the United States, copyright infringement is a strict liability tort or crime. This means that the plaintiff or
prosecutor must only prove that the act of copying or actus reus was committed by the defendant, and need not prove mens rea. Good faith,
standing alone, is no defense.
For electronic and audio-visual media, unauthorized reproduction and distribution is often
referred to as piracy or theft (an early reference was made by Alfred Tennyson in the preface to his poem 'The Lover's Tale' in 1879 where he
mentions that sections of this work "have of late been mercilessly pirated".) However there is no legal basis for this and indeed in one
US copyright lawsuit the judge ordered the plaintiff's legal team to stop using the term.
Critics of the use of
"software piracy" to describe such practices contend that it unfairly compares a crime that makes no victim, except some hypothetical lost sales, with the violent actions of organized thieves and murderers; in addition, it also confuses mere illegal copying of material with the
intentional and malicious penetration of computer systems to which one does not legally have access. As a consequence, "software piracy" is a somewhat loaded word.
Illegal copying of copyrighted material may occur through organized black market reproduction and distribution channels, sometimes with blatantly open commercial sale
(as along the sidewalks of Manhattan's notorious Canal Street, or
London's Camden Town), or through purely private copying or downloadinto avoid paying a purchase price. With digital technology, most modern
piracy involves an exact and perfect copy of the original made from hard copy or downloaded over the Internet. One of the most publicised
cases was the spread of unreleased Madonna songs including her 2000 hi"Music" prior to the official commercial release date.
The
unlawful downloading and sharing of recorded music in the form of M3 and other small, lossy audio files is still widespread, even after the
demise of Napster and a series of infringement suits brought by thAmerican recording industry against music-sharing individuals seemingly
chosen by random. Promotional screener DVDs distributed by movistudios (often for consideration for awards) are a common source of
unauthorised copying when movies are still in theatrical release, anthe MPAA has attempted to restrict their use.
Movies
are also still copied by someone sneaking a camcorder into a movitheater and secretly taping the projection, although such copies are
very rarely of anything other than appalling quality compared even budget VHS titles produced legitimately. It should be noted that
sharing copied music is legal in many other countries, such as Canada,
and parts of Europe, provided that this information is neither
advertised, nor that the songs be sold.
