Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Yes, I know that. Ralph posted a hypothetical, and asked if he'd pirated the book. Despite the legality of "format shifting," I stand by my answer. In the scenario he posited, he didn't violate the intent of copyright law. I don't believe he would be chased as a pirate, in that circumstance. If he was asking "is there any offense here that could be pressed?," then format-shifting is the obvious answer. I think I covered that in my comment about dimbulbs and the unauthorized copying of the book, no?
@pwalker--you stated:
That's inaccurate. There are felony copyright infringement laws, criminal cases. Copyright infringement is NOT only a civil crime. Granted, it's not an everyday occurrence, but it absolutely exists. Most jurisdictions would decline to prosecute it, because typically, it's some schmuck that pirated a book and the damages can't be proven, but you best betcha that infringement most certainly can be a felony if provable.
Hitch
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In the real world, there are few absolutes. Sure, there are criminal copyright cases, involving massive pirating for profit, but as you say it's rare and the exception doesn't invalidate my point, which is that copyright is mostly a civil matter requiring the copyright holder to take positive action to sue.
Copyright law in the US is a lot like anti-trust, i.e. a lot depends on the individual judge and jury. There is a lot of murky territory in both bodies of law in the US.