But there is a huge difference
Those with massive fines and payouts awarded against them have been those sharing the media. P2P works by sharing and its the making available of copyrighted material which carries the heavy fines. Now I realise downloading of such media is also illegal and would carry heavy punishment its not like your actually distributing. Unless of course you do upload to use net
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammie_Thomas (highlighted and underlined point)
Quote:
Thomas was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for music pirating by illegal sharing of songs in Duluth, Minnesota. She was represented by Minneapolis attorney Brian Toder.[1]
On October 4, 2007, the final day of her trial, U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. Davis and the jury charged her with $222,000 worth of damages, which came to $9,250 per song.
At the trial, jurors decided that Thomas willfully violated the copyright of 24 music files consisting of such bands as Aerosmith, Green Day, and Guns 'N' Roses on Kazaa, under the username of tereastarr@KaZaA.[2][3]
The hard drive containing the copyrighted songs was never presented at the trial. The hard drive Thomas owned at the time Media Sentry recorded the infringement was replaced under warranty. She turned over a new hard drive that contained neither Kazaa nor the infringing files to the RIAA attorneys.[4] There was no evidence showing that the Kazaa account had allowed others to effectively download the files,[1] but jury instruction 14 instructed the jurors that the act of "making available" and not the plaintiff demonstrating that the file had been downloaded, constituted an act of infringement.[5]
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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-wraps-up.html more here
uk law
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/cybercrime/cybercrime.htm
Quote:
3.6 Intellectual Property Offences - Copyright Crime
Copyright law provides for criminal sanction in certain situations. In the UK generally civil remedies provide compensation to wronged intellectual property rights holders and most of the copyright criminal offences contained in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 (CDPA), are concerned with commercial activity.
Sections 107, 110 and 198 of the CDPA create criminal offences in relation to the making, distribution, importation, sale or hire of ‘infringing copies'. There is also a criminal offence of infringing performers' rights (s.198(1A)).
Specifically, one of the offences covers the act of ‘distributing an article otherwise than in the course of business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright'. In addition, encouraging the copying of software for sale online could lead to the criminal offence of incitement.
According to s.107 CDPA a criminal offence is committed if a person knowingly sells an infringing copy of a protected work without the permission of the copyright owner. In the UK, criminal penalties for companies and their directors can include unlimited fines and up to two years in prison.
Section 107 has also been amended to create a criminal offence (as well as a civil offence) where a person knowingly infringes copyright in a work by communicating the work to the public in the course of business, or in a way that prejudicially affects the copyright owner.
Further information on intellectual property crime, including counterfeiting and piracy, can be found on the UK Intellectual Property Office website at - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/crime.htm.
Sharing and Downloading Music
Music or other file-sharing can be unlawful under the CDPA and students or staff who trade, swap or share music files illegally over the internet open themselves up to the possibility of a civil legal action.
FE and HE institutions are vulnerable to the extent that office holders and those responsible for compliance must not knowingly facilitate the commercial abuse of copyright law.
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few interesting points there on civil and criminal differences