Copyright infringement 

The unauthorised use of a work protected by copyright constitutes a copyright infringement. 

In the case of unauthorised use, the user may be required to pay compensation to the creator. This obligation does not depend on whether the user was aware that the use was unlawful. This means that even a user who acted in good faith may be obliged to pay compensation if they did not have the necessary permission for the use. The amount of compensation may be based on the amount the user would have paid if they had requested permission. 

In addition to the compensation, the user may be ordered to pay the copyright holder damages for any other loss, suffering, or inconvenience caused, especially if reputational damage and/or loss of earnings is involved. The amount of damages is assessed on an individual basis for each case. 

[CRRA Sec. 44-48 and 209-214]

 You may be guilty of copyright infringement if you, intentionally or through gross negligence, reproduce a work or make it available to the public in violation of copyright law. Infringement of the creator’s moral rights may also be punishable as copyright infringement. 

A copyright infringement can lead to legal proceedings and fines. It can also have negative consequences for the infringer’s future career. Many universities will not allow students who have deliberately infringed copyright and/or are guilty of plagiarism to graduate. 

Penalties for copyright infringement

A copyright offence requires that the act is intentional, performed for profit, and that the act is likely to cause significant harm or inconvenience to the rightsholder. Infringements of copyright on data networks do not require a profit motive, so for example, illegally spreading music or films on the Internet is always a copyright crime. 

For a copyright offence, one can be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. 

[CRRA Sec. 140]

Plagiarism

Plagiarism involves the infringement of both economic and moral rights. It describes taking the ideas, expressions and language of another person and representing them as your own original work. Many universities refuse to let students guilty of plagiarism graduate. There have been cases where highly regarded authorities have lost their hard-won credibility and status overnight because they are found to have plagiarised the work of others, and senior politicians have had to resign for similar reasons.

Piracy 

Piracy refers to the professional and/or commercial production of copies and recordings and the distribution of content to the public without the permission of the rightsholder. Pirate recordings are those recordings that have been produced illegally and pirate websites/platforms are those to which protected material has been copied without the permission of rightsholders. The material can be copied from a legal copy or recording, or from a live performance, such as a movie screening or radio or podcast broadcast. Pirate recordings are illegal copies of works, and therefore, neither private nor public use of them is legal. Common illegal distribution channels for works often include peer-to-peer networks, streaming services, and file-sharing websites. 

Piracy includes: 

• Unauthorised distribution of protected material online (e.g., sharing and uploading MP3 files via a peer-to-peer network). 
• Unauthorised production of works for purposes other than private use (e.g., copying MP3 files to a USB drive and sharing those files with the entire class, or copying one’s own music collection to a peer-to-peer network). 
• Importation of pirate products. 
• Sale of pirate products or copies of works.