Is The Risk Of Copyright Infringement Worth The Reward?

By Author: Darlius Colin
Total Articles: 6
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Over the years, online piracy has grown all over the world for several reasons. Lots of internet users download copyrighted materials because other users are also doing it. Some consumers do it for their personal consumption. Due to this, content owners hire entities to detect copyright infringers who will be charged separately for each of the damages they made.

Risks of torrenting

Your IP address is like your computer’s online fingerprint and content owners may collect them for future use. Whether you're a mass downloader or not, when you download a torrent file, your IP address is linked with other users' IP addresses all over the world. So, a single movie download will be noticed and recorded.

Although imprisonment only applies to hardcore copyright infringers like torrent site operators or cammers, just the possibility of going to prison or paying an expensive fine should be enough to discourage internet users from infringing content. Read on to learn more about the monetary breakdown for regular downloaders.

Financial breakdown

Copyright holders ask for compensation for the profit they ...
... have lost by your illegal activity. The claims do not necessarily have to come from the owners; it may also come from an entity working for the copyright owner. You will not be considered to have financially benefited from the infringement if you only uploaded or downloaded a copyrighted work and no money was exchanged as payment.

Basically, the full breakdown of the damages would sum to compensatory and additional damages like the costs of taking the case to court. Another example is taking into account if the subscriber benefited from the infringement. The court has the discretion to award additional damages after taking all the circumstances in consideration.

Copyright holder's entitlement

Piracy affects all parts of the entertainment industry specifically independent creators. However, the cases for non-commercial infringers like consumers differ from those who illegally distribute copyrighted content by operating a website that provide torrent files.

A court may consider that you knew what you were doing if you used a filesharing network. Additionally, copyright holders can recover the reasonable costs from you for taking the case to court. If they detect copyright infringers, the law allows for a fine of up to $150,000 and the worse punishment is imprisonment.

It is easier to buy media legally

The rise of video-on-demand services has certainly helped contribute to the fall of piracy. One of the reasons why people downloaded copyrighted materials was because of the pricing. Many could not understand why digital versions were priced higher than the boxed equivalents or DVDs.

Now, going legit is a better experience than pirating, which usually takes too many steps. Once you start, it would just flow naturally without you noticing it. And, it will always be better as you don't have to worry about any of the copyright letters going into your post. So, before you infringe a copyright, ask yourself if the risk is worth the reward.

Maverickeye detects and retraces copyright infringements. We help content holders protect their intellectual property.