bution of his or her creative works. Copyright protection includes many types of creative works, including computer software. The owner of the copyright is entitled to say how and under what circumstances the software is reproduced, distributed and installed. When you buy software, you purchase the right to use it, under certain restrictions imposed by the copyright owner. If a user copies, distributes, or installs the software in ways that the license does not allow, they are violating federal copyright law.If caught with pirated software, a user or company may be liable under both civil and criminal law. The copyright owner can bring a civil action against them. In that action, the owner can seek to stop them from using the pirated software and can request money damages. Statutory damages can be as much as $100,000 for each work copied. Federal judges have shown their intolerance of copyright violators by handing down increasingly large damage awards against violators. The government can criminally prosecute you for copyright infringement. If convicted, the courts can assess fines up to $250,000 or a jail term of up to five years, or both. In 1997, President Clinton signed the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, making it easier to prosecute software pirates on the Internet. Now prosecution is possible even if they did not make money from their piracy acts. Along with criminal consequences, pirated software often comes with other risks such as: Viruses, corrupt disks, or otherwise defective software. There are many reasons for the end users downloading of pirated software, some good, some bad: “It's okay if you're using it for educational purposes”…”I needed it, but the price was unreasonably high. "If I had to actually pay for it, there is no way I could ever afford it.” …“I didn't know it was illegal"…”It is only illegal if you get caught"…”Oh, come on, eve...
