Copyright Infringement

Copyright Crackdown

In the early 2000s, there has been an intense escalation in efforts to crackdown on copyright infringement. However, as the U.S. Constitution granted Congress power over copyright legislation, it attests that this is not a new problem: 1897 marks the year when criminal copyright infringement, as separate from a civil violation, was first introduced into federal law.

Legal scholars (Barr, et al.) detail the evolution of copyright infringement laws and corresponding defensive and offensive strategies used in criminal cases. Conviction on the grounds of criminal infringement is contingent upon the prosecutor's ability to show that the defendant willfully violated the law and did so for profit. The Copyright Act of 1976 eased the burden on the prosecutor by requiring that she prove that the infringement had been willful and undertaken for “commercial advantage” or “private financial gain” rather than “for profit” alone. Congress increased the penalties for criminal infringement in 1982. In 1992, Congress enacted the Copyright Felony Act in response to mounting complaints extending from piracy of computer software.

This was not the first time that Congress had legislated within the area of copyright infringement due to software piracy. The Copyright Act of 1976[Page 210] was amended in 1980 to extend protection to software. Yet, software piracy continued to become increasingly widespread, posing difficult challenges to enforcement, and cut into the profits of manufacturers. Scholars who approach this issue from a sociological perspective explain that many people who copy and distribute software are unaware that they are even engaging in an illegal activity. Much of the confusion of what constitutes an illegal use of software lies in the fact that distributors themselves have passed on free trial copies to potential buyers.

The hypothetical scenario that sociologists Anne Christensen and Martha M. Eining present in their study is all too real and familiar. An office worker makes copies of a program licensed for only one computer in her workplace so that she may use it at home to increase her own efficiency. Copies are also passed on to his friends. However, under licensing agreements, the software company actually retains ownership and therefore the right to limit subsequent duplication. Users agree to this arrangement when they open the package and accept the terms when they install the software package on their computers.

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