Piracy: At times we have seen copyright infringement confused with the terms "piracy" and "theft".
Why Ask the copyright owners who launched campaigns that equalize the terms above.
Piracy, lest we forget our Greek, refers to some kind of robbery on the high seas, but usesit is also often synonymous with copyright infringement.
The bills SOUP Stop Online Piracy Act PIPA For those who remember, the Protect Intellectual Property Act was aimed at combating online piracy on websites outside the US.
In essence, the two bills allowed copyright holders to seek convictions for websites that violate or even facilitate infringement of copyright law.
The US Department of Justice (and not only, as we have seen recently) may seek judicial rulings that bind search engines and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block any pages accused of violating the law.
The above-mentioned bills give copyright holders every right to seek a legal injunction to stop any advertising activity on websites that violate the law.
We will not mention the above. But we will look in more detail at the use of the term "theft" or "piracy" which is clearly excessive. The term theft as well as the term piracy emphasizes the potential commercial damage of any copyright infringement. But all cases of violations do not necessarily mean commercial damage.
Let's talk about Piracy:
The designation of Piracy to describe any infringement of exclusive rights began before the concept of intellectual property was legalized.
In accordance with Wikipedia πριν τον πρώτο νόμο περί πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας της Βασίλισσας Άννας της Αγγλίας (1709 – 1710), η Σεβαστή Union Χαρτοπωλών και Εφημεριδοπωλών του Λονδίνου είχε λάβει, το 1557, ένα Βασιλικό Προνόμιο (Χάρτη) που της παραχωρούσε το μονοπώλιο της έκδοσης αλλά και την ευθύνη της επιβολής του χάρτη αυτού. Οι παραβαίνοντες τον χάρτη ονομάζονταν πειρατές ήδη από το 1603, ενώ ο όρος “πειρατεία” χρησιμοποιόταν από τότε αντί της μη εξουσιοδοτημένης αντιγραφής, διανομής και πώλησης έργων που βρίσκονται υπό πνευματική ιδιοκτησία.[
Article 12 of Syncaseof Berne for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works uses the term “piracy” for copyright infringement, stating that: “Pirate works may be confiscated upon entry into those of countries of the Union where the original work enjoys legal protection.
Article 61 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPs, provides for criminal proceedings and penalties in cases of "unlawful infringement or piracy of commercial property".
Piracy has traditionally referred to acts of copyright infringement that are done with intent and for financial gain, although today copyright owners describe online copyright infringement as "piracy".
Richard Stallman and the GNU Project they have criticized the use of the term piracy in these cases, indicating that publishers use this word to refer to “copy cases that they do not approve of" and that "imply that it is ethically equivalent to attacking ships offshore, abducting and killing people".
Is the term finally theft?
As mentioned above, copyright owners often use the term "theft" for any infringement.
Is this true? In copyright law, the infringement does not refer to the theft of natural objects that the thief removes from the possession of the owner. It refers to a case where a person uses the copyright owner's exclusive rights without his consent.
Older courts around the world have differentiated concepts. For example, the US Supreme Court, in the trial Dowling v United States (1985), has ruled that illegal audio recordings are not stolen property.
Το δικαστήριο ανέφερε: “η παρεμβολή με τα Copyright δεν εξισώνεται εύκολα με την κλοπή, τον σφετερισμό ή την scam".
The Intellectual Property Act even uses a different terminology to identify someone who is abusing intellectual property and simply refers to it as: "[...] infringer of intellectual property".
The court (United States Supreme Court) έκρινε ότι, στην περίπτωση της παραβίασης πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας, η δικαιοδοσία του κατόχου πνευματικών δικαιωμάτων παραβιάζεται, αλλά δεν ασκείται κανένας control, natural or not, in the intellectual property, nor is the owner completely deprived of the use of the work or the exercise of his exclusive rights.
