[DanBC]

In the UK it's not legal to download, but the only damages are the costs of one copy of the item. Doing all the paperwork and filing all the legal stuff is time consuming and expensive, thus companies don't bother with it just to recoup £14 for a movie.

But if you're uploading then the costs are the cost of the media * number of people in the swarm. And going after those people has -they hope- a chilling effect, preventing people from doing it.

This is "civil law" (A UK lawyer probably knows the correct terminology.)

If you're infringing copyright as part of trade -selling bootleg DVDs on a market stall, for example- it becomes a criminal offence, and is enforced by police and trading standards officers.

[polshaw]

Got a citation on the damages amounts? Haven't heard that before.