Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Penalties

If one is found guilty of copyright infringement, damages to be paid would fall under one of the following catagories: actual or statutory. Actual damages refer to actual monetary losses, and the copyright holder must prove those losses. This might happen in large piracy cases - a company pays for 1000 software licences, but actually puts the program on 5000 computers.

Statutory fines set by the court can range anywhere from $100 per instance to as much as $20,000 per instance. The lowest fine would be given to the person who honestly did not realize he was doing something wrong.

Remember that the above damages would only apply if the copyright holder actually sues. The result of being caught may only be a "cease and desist" letter, which basically tells the infringer to destroy the copies and never to do that again.

Keep checking back for more information. Next up...actual cases and their results. But not today; I just sent my midterm for the other class. I'm done!

2 comments:

Christina said...

Wow, $20,000 is a huge penalty-I had no idea a fine could be that high. I also feel a bit freed now that we are 1/2 way through! Enjoy your weekend!

Jessica Modrzejewski said...

Nice definitions -- great point! Your blog looks nice..but avoid dark-colored backgrounds -- hard to read. Love the family picture! :)

Mrs. M.