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It's Illegal to Pirate Films in Iran, Unless You're the Government (vice.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: While legal "pirating" exists in Iran, six administrators of the Iranian pirate movie site TinyMoviez have been arrested by Iranian authorities. This was a website the Iranian national broadcaster had used to download and nationally air movies in the past. The exact date of the arrests are unknown, but Tehran's Prosecutor General announced the arrests on September 26, 2017. The website is still online, but users haven't been able to download content from it since September 19, 2017. Now TinyMoviez administrators are finding themselves on the wrong side of Iran's odd and often pirating friendly copyright laws. Iran's copyright law is a quagmire when it comes to understanding what rights exists for creators of an original piece of work, and what rights exist for those wanting to re-distribute original works, such as movies. Meanwhile, Article 8 gives the government broad powers to reproduce work that is not its own. This means that the government is exempt from Article 23, which criminalizes the theft of another's work.
A classic case of: Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi.
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why is this even news?
It's Illegal to (VERB) in (PLACE), Unless You're the Government
I am shocked. TRUMP can use this as further leverage against these seedy characters.
Do we cut off his hands?
No, it says we stone him.
After do we cut off his head?
Yes, OK, you can cut something off.
You're looking for logic in a country that is run by religious ayatollahs.
Do you think there's any sense in this, whatsoever?
Whatever the ayatollah says, goes. Period, and end of discussion.
This means that the government is exempt from Article 23, which criminalizes the theft of another's work.
In civilized countries, it is called "taxes".
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
The featured article claims that Article 8 of Iran's copyright law mentions an exception for public libraries and educational institutions.
I don't see how it's fundamentally different from sections 108 and 110 of the U.S. copyright statute, which likewise grant exceptions for library and classroom use respectively.
it's sort of the same reason that the Internet Archive can pretty much keep anything they want - broadcast it over the Internet or over the TV, there's really no difference when you think about it.
Stop trying to paint the Iranian government as a threat to Hollywood, or whatever it is you're trying to do.
If you're licensed by the government to do so. And it isn't really pirating
for Iranians since Iran is not a signatory to the WIPO treaty and not bound by international copyright conventions.
BTW, here is a PDF of Iran's copyright law from the WIPO website http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=197798
Reading it you'll find that it is hardly a quagmire of confusing and conflicting clauses for authors, and that motherboard's representation of Article 8 is disingenuous, " Article 8 gives the government broad powers to reproduce work that is not its own".
Notice Article 8:
Article 8. Public libraries, documentation centers, scientific institutions and educational establishments, which are noncommercial, may reproduce protected works by a photographic or similar process, in the numbers necessary, for the purposes of their activities, according to a decree to be issued by the Board of Minister
Seems like a rather taxpayer friendly policy.
I can't believe Steve Martin thought he'd get away with this.
This government can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, for as long as it wants, because....if you don't like it, it can take it up with the people who have weapons that can take out your house. an intelligence that can blackmail your pets, and murder squad so good at killing you don't even know you're dead till a few hours after the trigger has been pulled. It's kind of like the story: Someone gets a loan from a bank for a tank. They by the tank. A friend asks what are you going to do when the bank comes calling for it's money to be paid back. The borrower answers, "I have a tank".
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Iran is not a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works or the WIPO Copyright Treaty, or a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), so it is not bound by international copyright laws. Why? The United States has vetoed Iran's ascension to the WTO 22 times, and Iran will not play by the rules if they don't get to join the club.
Is the OP sure that the arrests were for piracy, and not for putting up something that might be considered either pro-Western or un-Islamic?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
While legal "pirating" exists in Iran
I thought that Sudan had the piracy problem. Perhaps msmash and vice.com do not know the difference between copyright infringement and piracy (hijacking, kidnapping, rape, robbery, murder, etc. at sea).
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed: ... A ship or aircraft may retain its nationality although it has become a pirate ship or aircraft.
... US citizens might like to read this: https://www.lewrockwell.com/20...
In the USA, the state can confiscate cash (or pretty well anything else) without even accusing you of a crime.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.