List of Software Copyright Violations
- Those committing copyright infringement could face fines as high as $150,000, warns the U.S. Copyright Office.computer image by Ewe Degiampietro from Fotolia.com
Copyright law is designed to protect software developers and programmers from those who would seek to steal or copy proprietary code without permission. This is because the law views computer programmers as no different from artists or musicians who create an individual product that is unlike anything else on the market. - Using someone's copyrighted work, such as proprietary code, and claiming that work to be your own is a violation of U.S. copyright law. Software code is protected under these laws as a form of intellectual property; therefore, to incorporate it into a larger program, you must obtain the copyright holder's permission to do so. This can be done in the form of a written statement granting you permission or through a licensing agreement whereby you or your company pays the copyright holder to use his programming code for a fixed period of time.
- Making copyrighted software available for others without permission of the copyright holder is illegal, according to the U.S. Copyright Office. This can include making copies of your favorite computer games or other software and giving them to your friends for free or placing software you have obtained or purchased on an illegal downloading site for other users to obtain without paying the copyright holder. Doing so is illegal because you have no license agreement to distribute the software in question. The purchase of copyrighted software grants you only personal use of it.
- It is a violation of copyright law to obtain copyrighted software without paying for it or without the permission of the copyright holder. This is a form of theft and can open the violator to possible criminal and civil penalties, which may involve fines, jail time and the payment of personal damages to the copyright holder. According to the website of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, these actions are fought aggressively because of the effect that they can have on companies and developers, which receive diminished revenues from consumers choosing to obtain programs illegally rather pay for them.
- Selling copyrighted software for personal gain is illegal. If you purchase a computer game or other software program from a licensed dealer and repackage that product for sale elsewhere you are violating terms of the copyright agreement because you do not have a license or permission from the copyright holder to sell the product. Exceptions to this law occur with software dealers in used products who are duly licensed and who purchase products from consumers and market them as used or previously owned.
