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by chewxy 4892 days ago
I'm not American, but doesn't federal crime simply mean that the crime does not fall under the jurisdiction of states?

I can totally understand why it is a federal crime - copyright has to be enforced across the country. It'd be rather senseless to enforce copyrights by states.

Now, the real issue of course is as what he said: Why is this a crime? Shouldn't this be a civil issue, to be settled between the two parties? This is the part about copyright enforcement laws I don't get: how is it a crime?
2 comments
zokier 4892 days ago
> Shouldn't this be a civil issue, to be settled between the two parties

I kinda understand at least one reason why it's not that simple. In high profile cases like this, you could have hundreds of copyright holders wanting action. Coordinating all those people could be impossible, and thus legitimate cases would fall flat on their faces just for lack of cooperation.

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chewxy 4892 days ago
If the copyright holders are unable to form a class action suit against one tiny group... I don't see why they should be entitled to going 'one level up' and getting federal involvement and making it a crime.
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pyre 4892 days ago
You're saying that they should be Federal crimes due to logistical reasons. You do realize that making them Federal crimes includes prison sentences, while civil cases do not. Just because it would be logistically difficult to get a civil case organized is not enough of an excuse for adding jail time to the punishment.
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belorn 4892 days ago
Aren't that always the case with class action suits? I would also like special criminal laws to be added each time a company do something that result in a class action suit. It would make things so much easier.
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scarecrowbob 4892 days ago
Not that I agree with this, but there are a range of factors that make infringement a criminal offense:

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#506

Specifically: "(C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution."

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