Have you even read your own original post? Let me repeat it for you:
"The RIAA are doing these lawsuits with terrible evidence to show that they are not "sufficiently protected" by civil law. This can only help them as they continue to lobby congress for new criminal copyright infringement laws."
The point is that your whole post is based on a faulty premise. If that's not relevant, then neither was your own post. The discussion is about the RIAA slapping people with *copyright infringement* suits, copyright infringement is codified in *law*. So *copyright infringement law* is relevant to the discussion. If it's not, then please tell... Why did you bring it up?
Sigh... I posted this as AC, but got modded flamebait... so, here it goes again. In some cases copyright infringement is already criminal according to US Code Title 17 Chapter 5 Section 506.
So can we *please* stop pushing the myth that copyright infringement is a strictly "civil" offense. It just isn't, no matter how much people say it. I've pasted the actual punishments below.
2319. Criminal infringement of a copyright
(a) Whoever violates section 506 (a) (relating to criminal offenses) of title 17 shall be punished as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section and such penalties shall be in addition to any other provisions of title 17 or any other law. (b) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(1) of title 17-- (1) shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies or phonorecords, of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500; (2) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1); and (3) shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, in any other case. (c) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(2) of title 17, United States Code-- (1) shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of 10 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of $2,500 or more; (2) shall be imprisoned not more than 6 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1); and (3) shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000. (d) (1) During preparation of the presentence report pursuant to Rule 32(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, victims of the offense shall be permitted to submit, and the probation officer shall receive, a victim impact statement that identifies the victim of the offense and the extent and scope of the injury and loss suffered by the victim, including the estimated economic impact of the offense on that victim. (2) Persons permitted to submit victim impact statements shall include-- (A) producers and sellers of legitimate works affected by conduct involved in the offense; (B) holders of intellectual property rights in such works; and (C) the legal representatives of such producers, sellers, and holders. (e) As used in this section-- (1) the terms "phonorecord" and "copies" have, respectively, the meanings set forth in section 101 (relating to definitions) of title 17; and (2) the terms "reproduction" and "distribution" refer to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner under clauses (1) and (3) respectively of section 106 (relating to exclusive rights in copyrighted works), as limited by sections 107 through 122, of title 17.
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http://archure.net/p/IQnew.jpg
Have you even read your own original post? Let me repeat it for you:
"The RIAA are doing these lawsuits with terrible evidence to show that they are not "sufficiently protected" by civil law. This can only help them as they continue to lobby congress for new criminal copyright infringement laws."
The point is that your whole post is based on a faulty premise. If that's not relevant, then neither was your own post. The discussion is about the RIAA slapping people with *copyright infringement* suits, copyright infringement is codified in *law*. So *copyright infringement law* is relevant to the discussion. If it's not, then please tell... Why did you bring it up?
Sigh... I posted this as AC, but got modded flamebait... so, here it goes again. In some cases copyright infringement is already criminal according to US Code Title 17 Chapter 5 Section 506.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#506
The punishments violating the above mentioned code are as listed below:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/
So can we *please* stop pushing the myth that copyright infringement is a strictly "civil" offense. It just isn't, no matter how much people say it. I've pasted the actual punishments below.
2319. Criminal infringement of a copyright
(a) Whoever violates section 506 (a) (relating to criminal offenses) of title 17 shall be punished as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section and such penalties shall be in addition to any other provisions of title 17 or any other law.
(b) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(1) of title 17--
(1) shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies or phonorecords, of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500;
(2) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1); and
(3) shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, in any other case.
(c) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(2) of title 17, United States Code--
(1) shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of 10 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of $2,500 or more;
(2) shall be imprisoned not more than 6 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1); and
(3) shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000.
(d)
(1) During preparation of the presentence report pursuant to Rule 32(c) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, victims of the offense shall be permitted to submit, and the probation officer shall receive, a victim impact statement that identifies the victim of the offense and the extent and scope of the injury and loss suffered by the victim, including the estimated economic impact of the offense on that victim.
(2) Persons permitted to submit victim impact statements shall include--
(A) producers and sellers of legitimate works affected by conduct involved in the offense;
(B) holders of intellectual property rights in such works; and
(C) the legal representatives of such producers, sellers, and holders.
(e) As used in this section--
(1) the terms "phonorecord" and "copies" have, respectively, the meanings set forth in section 101 (relating to definitions) of title 17; and
(2) the terms "reproduction" and "distribution" refer to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner under clauses (1) and (3) respectively of section 106 (relating to exclusive rights in copyrighted works), as limited by sections 107 through 122, of title 17.