When it comes to businesses, there are several cases of copyright infringement. This is the business equivalent of plagiarism. Several people engage in it without knowing they are doing it. But for some, they know what they are doing and know it’s wrong.
It has drastic effects on the victim companies. But the consequences of engaging in such activity are dire. Many people lack knowledge on the subject. Here we will focus on helping you understand all there is to know about copyright infringement.
Definition of Copyright Infringement
It is the unauthorized use of work covered under copyright laws in a way that violates the exclusive rights of the person who owns the copyright. These rights reserved for the owner of the copyrights include the rights to perform, reproduce, distribute and translate the work. If you do any of these without permission from the owner of that material, then that is copyright infringement.
We have all most probably encountered or engaged in it. Some of the most common kinds include reproducing work that has been copyrighted in CDS or flash disks. It includes movies and music, without the owner’s authorization.
Distributing copyrighted work through means like Bluetooth is another example. The translation of literary work or music that has been copyrighted from one language to another without permission is also an infringement. When you publicly exhibit or perform work that is not yours, you are similarly engaging in illegal activity. Seeing its seriousness, students in college need to learn how to avoid plagiarism in their work. There are several plagiarism tools online for students that they can use. You can use a free checker to check for plagiarism on FixGerald to ensure your work is free of any issues. It’s better to use the most trusted tool instead of picking up any random tool online.
The Various Types
There are two kinds of infringing activity. One is primary, also known as direct copyright infringement. The second one is secondary or rather contributory. Primary copyright infringement is where an individual directly does the restricted activity themselves. An example is copying a movie into a CD without the owner’s knowledge.
On the other hand, secondary is when infringed copies of work are being used or distributed. It can also be done by providing the machinery or rather the means to perform infringement. An example of this is the sale of infringed movies, distributing them, and exhibiting them. Primary infringement involves those who directly reproduce the work, while secondary is more on a commercial front.
Filing for an Infringement Claim
To file for an infringement case, you need to ensure that you have a valid copyright to the material you claim has been infringed. You should also prove that the accused had access to the copyrighted material. Finally, you need to ensure that the infringer cannot use defenses like fair use of material. If you have all these in check, you can be successful on a copyright infringement claim.
Punishment for Copyright Infringement
The penalties are quite tough. If found in an infringement case, you could be liable to jail time or have to pay a fine. The penalties are all dependent on the extent of the crime committed. Fines for infringement lie between 700 USD to 155,000 USD depending on whether it was intentional or unintentional. If you did it intentionally, you stand to pay a fine of up to 155,000 USD per every material infringed.
When you do not intend to do it, the fines will lie between 700USD to 30,000 USD per work. That is a high price to pay for a service you could have obtained at a lower price. Even if you did business, you would not have made a profit that matches the fine you will have to pay and possible jail time. You will be incurring losses, making it a very poor investment decision. Crime does not pay, and you should avoid it by all means. Keeping yourself clean of such issues is the key.
Conclusion
Copyright infringement is a serious crime, and we need to avoid it. It seems trivial as many people engage in it and manage to get away with it. When the law catches up with you, it will be put on record, and it could affect you in so many ways. You will also incur serious losses due to the steep fines for the crime. Hopefully, the article has given you enough insight into copyright infringement.
Related Articles
