What is Piracy?

 

It's asked often enough that we have decided to put a page up about it.

 

In short "Piracy is the theft, reproduction, or redistribution of a copyrighted work without the permission or knowledge of the creator/author/copyright holder."

 

We're not just saying that.

 

It's the law. In every country.

 

Why is redistribution in bold?

We can all agree that if you take someone else's work and sell it not only is it piracy, it's theft.

But redistribution (uploading to another website, blog or file sharing site without the authors permission) is also piracy.

 

Even though it's not for personal financial gain (money).

 

It is also the most prevalent problem in our hobby,

The simple guideline to use is this: If you didn't create it, don't upload it.

 

This group always has and will continue to support the rights of the designers/authors of work.

 

For more information on piracy and intellectual rights infringement:

 

The Stop Digital Piracy Blog

 

Copyright Infringement and Piracy Watch

 

"Is it legal to download works from peer-to-peer networks and if not, what is the penalty for doing so?"

(From the U.S. Copyright Office)

 

Resources for Designers/Authors:

 

The Stop Digital Piracy Blog

 

Rights for Artists

 

United States FBI Piracy website

 

 

 

 

For The Papermodels Google Group and all who wish to read it.

Rick Lytle

-The Webdude-