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This Article has been written to let some of you fellow pirates
know just what is and isn't illegal in the area of 'Copyright
Protection under the law.' This will hopefully expell some of the
misconstrued ideas about software pirating. Due to the presence of
constant revisions in this area of the law, this information
probably won't remain current for a long period of time. The
Courts (as usual) can't seem to make any sort of reasonable
decisions about any controversial issue! This is probably due to
the fact that they insist on ruling on subjects that they have
little or no information about!!
To Start with, here are a few relevant facts that most of you
already know..But I will go through it anyhow, for the benefit of
the ignorant.
1: Unauthorized copying of software is illegal. Copyright law
protects software authors & publishers, just as patent law protects
inventors.
2: Unauthorized copying of software by individuals can harm the
entire academic comunity (for those of you in college!). If
unauthorized copying proliferates on a campus, the institution may
incur a legal liability. Also, the insitution may find it more
difficult to negociate agreements that would make software more
widely and less expensively available to members of the academic
community.
3: Unauthorized copying of software can deprive developers of a
fair return for their work, increase prices, reduce the level of
future support and enhancement, and inhibit the development of new
software products. It has been claimed that if all software
pirating stoped, prices would drop considerably. What a crock of
shit. They would probably drop a little, but If people are willing
to pay that much, wouldn't you be happy with all the extra $$
coming in!
4: Some common questions about Pirating I have been asked:
a: What do I need to know about software and the U.S. Copyright
Act? Unless it has been placed in the public domain, software is
protected by copyright law. The owner of a copyright holds
exclusive right to reproduction and distribution of his or her
work. Therefor, it is illegal to duplicate or distribute software
or its documentation without the permission of the copyright owner.
If you have purchased your copy, however, you may make a backup for
you own use in case the original is destroyed or fails to work.
b: Can I loan my software I have purchased myself? If your software
came with a clearly visible license agreement, or if you signed a
registration card, READ THE LICENSE CAREFULLY before you use the
software. Some licenses may restrict use to a specific computer.
Copyright law does not permit you to run your software on two or
more computers simultaneously unless the license agreement
specifically allows it. It may, however, be legal to loan your
software to a friend temporarily as long as you don't keep a copy.
(what a crock of shit! like I'm gonna go buy 2 copies of Windows to
run on both computer I have set up..)
c: If software is not copy-protected, do I have the right to copy
it? Lack of copy-protection does NOT constitute permission to copy
software in order to shar or sell it! Now this had to be one of
the dumber questions asked of me...No Protection just makes it a
little easier to either make backups or commit a crime!
5: An alternatives to requiring use of the same program in bulk
quantities is a site license. This is usually cheaper than buying
many copies of the same software package.
6: In finishing this section, restrictions on the use of software
are far from uniform! You should check carefully each piece of
software and the accompying documentation yourself. According to
officials, you do not have the right to make unauthorized copies
for or get copies from anyone when the Copyright Laws are in
effect.
Now, the legalities of this are a crock of shit! There is a
little thing called the Infringing Act. For your convienience,
I'll quote ut for you.
"The Use of an Infringing Copy: Under the Copyright Act, copyright
does not extend to limit the 'use' of a computer program in a
computer. However, if this should extend even to cases where an
infringing copy of a computer program is used in a computer, the
result would be unjustifiably detrimental to the author's
interests. In the case of works other than a program works, such
use of the infringing copies usually accompanies acts which also
make such copies available to the public by distribution. These
acts are, then, deemed to be an infringement of the copyright. The
use of an infringing copy of a program work is, however, usually
not accompanies by acts which make it public. The Amended Act
takes notice of this special feature of computer programs by
declaring that the use for business purposes of a copy of a program
work in a computer which was made by an act which infringed the
copyright on said program work, shall be deemed to be an
infringement of the copyright in the program work only when such a
fact of infringement was known at the time of obtaining rights to
use the copy. Ignorace of the fact of infringement is a defense!
Now, for those of you yet to recieve your Law degree, this is
saying that distribtion is DEFINITLY illegal..as most of you
already knew....To recieve a copy of a program from someone
else, use it for you own use, and not send it around is also
illegal, BUT!!!! Only if you KNEW IT WAS ILLEGAL! This is one case
where Ignorance of the Law is a defense...So for all you people
with Gigabytes of software offline...This should make you feel
somewhat better...
The next thing to address is the Supreme Court Ruling on the LEGAL
copies of Video Tapes in a persons home. A person can legally copy
a video tape for his own personal private use. Video tape happenes
to be in the same class of magnetic media that Software resides. A
person could make one hell of an arguement about this very subject.
After consulting with a few attourneys, they all said that the
possibility of the FBI or ANYONE for that matter, breaking in to
someones house is COMPLETLY FAR FETCHED! The Court systems just
don't want to have to deal with all the 'rinky dink' cases of minor
software pirating, especially when they don't have a firm
supportive base for their case! The FBI man hours, the courts
wasted time, and the small about of money they are dealing with
equals up to the fact that people like you and me are basically in
NO DANGER of getting busted. Many of the attourneys expect a
ruling from the Supreme Courts specifically putting Software in the
same class as Video Tapes.
The Final thing I wish to address is the area of punishment. Even
through the possibility is very low, IF a companiy chose to put the
time into it, and IF a company chose to press charges on someone
for distributing programs, and IF they had enough evidence to make
a case, the penalties are as follows:
Base level 6: For programs under $2000, a maximum punishment of 6
months in Jail and up to a $25000 fine is plausable. The people I
have consulted with have seen NO cases of which a person was
prosecuted for 'having' programs in his possession, but anything is
possible.
Above level 6: Up to 5 years in Prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.
The Penalties listed are on the bases of a EACH COPY OF A PROGRAM.
Major ouch when I heard this one.
Now, what this tells me and the attourneys I consulted with is
that a sentence under one year is usually consituted as a
non-felony charge. Not necessarily a misdemeanor, but definitly
not a felony. To most people, this would be extremely good news.
I personally am too old to go around with a felony on my record!
This concludes my article and I hope it has cleared up a few things
for you! And if not, It's just not my problem!!
Cool Hand
INC Vise President