If you’re a twelve year old, possibly the child of a single parent, and likely to be bankrupted by even a small fine, watch out.
If you’re a college student who, in a moment of youthful bad judgement, decided to download some source code you shouldn’t have, get ready for the FBI to knock on your door.
But, if you’re a public company with the veneer of respectability, well, then copy away. It seems nobody will bother.
One example, The SCO Group. This is a company that is guilty of criminal copyright infringement. Will the FBI raid their offices? Will the SEC investigate their officers? Will the courts stop their behavior? No. Apparently not.
Will a federal judge in Deleware twiddles her thumbs, a corporation in Utah continues to use threats, half-truths, innuendo, and downright lies to extort money from innocent people. All the while commiting the very same offence they are accussing others of commiting.
The SCO Group:
- Is distributing the copyrighted work of Linus Torvalds and many others in the form of the Linux kernel.
- Is violating the terms of the license giving them permission to copy and distribute the Linux kernel, thereby voiding the license and their rights to distribute the kernel.
- Is willfully continuing to distribute the kernel. They acknowledge that they don’t want to use the license the kernel is offered under, but they are contractually obligated to provide it to their customers.
- Is distributing more than 10 copies in a 180 period.
That, friends, is the four conditions that make copying a work criminal.
Will you see Darl McBride, The SCO Group’s CEO, in jail? I doubt it. Not as long as corporate America is running the show.