Taking and using a piece of intellectual property like a picture and converting it for personal / commercial use is copyright infringement and subjects the infringer to civil damages that vary depending on the copyright status of the image ( registered, etc. ) and / or the actual damage done to the owner. It also depends on the jurisdiction in which the act occurs - there is an international treaty on copyright but not all countries have joined. Even with that, there is some local variation depending on the jurisdiction.
Theft, on the other hand, is a crime punishable with incarceration in all jurisdictions where copyright infractions are not. It is the unlawful conversion of property from one person to another and the penalties derive from the method of conversion and the value of the property.
Where they get confused is in the actual thing being converted. If I take a picture out of a frame in your house, keep it, copy it, and do other things with it,
two things have happened - 1) a theft of property and 2) copyright infringement - separate recourses for each of these separable acts. Taking an electronic copy of your image off the Internet ( or photographing the image in your home but not taking the actual photograph ) is only the copyright infringement part and not the theft part.
Both are bad, just not equal in the law.
Cheers,
James
At 11:12 AM 1/14/2007 -0500, you wrote:
I would define it as "theft of intellectual property".
On 1/14/07, Qkano <wildimages@xxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:
- >Easy stealing during DIGITAL ERA
- Copyright abuse is not theft.
