Source F
"Piracy: Online and on the Street," Recording Industry Association of America.com. Web. 6 March 2011.
"Piracy: Online and on the Street," Recording Industry Association of America.com. Web. 6 March 2011.
The following information is from a website page about the laws against downloading music.
Do The Crime, Do The Time
If you do not have legal permission, and you go ahead and copy or distribute copyrighted music anyway, you can be prosecuted in criminal court and/or sued for damages in civil court.
- Criminal penalties for first-time
offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
- Civil penalties can run into many thousands of dollars in
damages and legal fees. The minimum penalty is $750 per song.
The "No Electronic Theft Law" (NET Act) is similar on copyright violations that involve digital recordings:
- Criminal
penalties can run up to 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines,
even if you didn’t do it for monetary or financial or commercial gain.
- If you did expect something in return, even if it just
involves swapping your files for someone else’s, as in MP3 trading, you
can be sentenced to as much as 5 years in prison.
- Regardless
of whether you expected to profit, you’re still liable in civil court
for damages and lost profits of the copyright holder.
- Or the copyright holders can sue you for up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each of their copyrighted works that you illegally copy or distribute.