I came across a bulletin board in Chinese just now. Maybe this is something only I do, but I always try to find out what php software the forum is using. In this case, it was Invision Power Board v2.1.0. I immediately remembered that this version of IPB requires a commercial license. But ah-ha, this was in Chinese, which does not come close to the US (or wherever IPB is based) federal laws.
The idea of distributing software without licenses seems to be legal in China and some other countries that still haven’t fully developed a law for intellectual rights. In China, no body (government, company, or individual) could care less about these pirated properties — simply because there is just too much to manage and there is no official law yet. But if I set up a website (in Chinese) using pirated software on a server in China from my home (in Canada), am I violating the Canadian laws against pirated software?
Now if this was not against any current written law, then I could see a whole new world of legally distributed illegal software…
Interesting thought, but if you were to use the downloaded software in Canada it would be illegal… It would only be legal to distribute it, but I suppose it gets the distributers out of trouble?
Hmmm. Most people just do the illegally used illegally pirated software. XD (Not that I do… ¬__¬”)
If you live in Canada you are subjected to the Canadian justice system, regardless of the language of your website. Secondly, you are a Canadian citizen which makes you more suspectible to Canadian laws.
Personally, I dislike pirated software, because it is morally bad, and contributes to a loss of profit for the owners.
Jarrod Zhang: Actually, your website is in subject to the laws of the country in which the server data center is in regardless of where you live. But, if you were to use the illegal content on the server knowingly from your home, for example, Canada, you would be violating the laws in Canada. So either way, you shouldn’t be doing anything illegal regardless of difference in the law enforcement in different countries.
Also, in response to Jarrod Zhang’s last comment: “Personally, I dislike pirated software, because it is morally bad, and contributes to a loss of profit for the owners.”
It is morally wrong because it is against the laws. But, it does not contribute to the loss of profit for the owners. Statistics from various colleges prove that the profit margin from the educational, government, and business market is far greater that most of the companies could give a little damn about tiny loss in the individual consumer market. In fact, lawyers are encouraging lawsuits in order to gain profit from the individuals also. If you are speaking in the strict sense that mathematically, the owners are not getting the money that they shoul’ve gotten, than, yes.
So as long as I am in Canada, I am not allowed to touch or use any pirated material?
I remember in Canada (not the US), downloading pirated material is not illegal, as long as you do not distribute or share it. So downloading songs from Limewire with the uploading option disabled would be legal. And since I’m not distributing the software publicly by uploading it to server in China, I’m not breaking any laws right?
Oliver: More precisely, downloading material from the Internet is not illegal. Howevere, downloading material from the Internet, knowing that it is pirated, is against the law. The tricky part is that if you download some pirated song from Limewire knowing that it is a pirated song that you intent to download, then you are going against the law. Now, if you get caught, you need to get a good lawyer and prove that you did not know, which is… impossible.
Also, the record company in the US can sue you for downloading US material, and can be charged under US federal laws for infringement in intellectual rights. You can probably avoid this by not going to the US, but you would be banned for your life to travel to US.
They can also sue you for downloading from a datacenter in United States, or a Limewire person who happens to be living in the US that you are downloading the song from.
So, either way, you shouldn’t be doing anything illegal.
Ah. The law is quite perfect at this I guess. No one can find a loophole through it all.
Law is probably not about perfection but rather about interpretation. The things I’ve mentioned above are probably what the lawyers of various record company/software company would say to encourage to sue you. Of course, if you get sued, various lawyers will tell you that they can save you…
Laws are a certain set of guildeline that differ from country to country. Follow ethics, and most of the time, you won’t run into trouble with the law.
law is there to be broken, no law hav been perfect yet…other words continue pirating…am i against the law in saying this?
Law is always being broken, but you should be breaking it with responsibility in mind.
So can I go to China, download pirated music to Limewire, and then return to the US?
You can go to China and download pirated music, but I don’t think it is legal to bring it into the US. You’ll need a license for it (which you get when you buy the CD).