11-25-2010, 11:11 PM
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It's 42
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Global
Posts: 18,083
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Quote:
Criminal Copyright Infringement—17 U.S.C. § 506(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319
The principal criminal statute protecting copyrighted works is 17 U.S.C. § 506(a), which provides that "[a]ny person who infringes a copyright willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain" shall be punished as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Section 2319 provides, in pertinent part, that a 5-year felony shall apply if the offense "consists of the reproduction or distribution, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies or phonorecords, of 1 or more copyrighted works, with a retail value of more than $2,500." 18 U.S.C. § 2319(b)(1).
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*"distribution" would include any website offering infringing content for download. Of course, this is US law and the government would have to be motivated to indict. I can think of political reasons to or not to indict and prosecute.
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