Copyright Infringement

When do we talk of Copyright infringement? What penalties are applicable in such cases? We face copyright infringement when the right of the author is violated through: 1. Plagiarism; 2. Reproduction for commercial purposes; 3. Modification without authorization Plagiarism We meet plagiarism when a work is totally or partially reproduced and its authorship is illegitimately […]

When do we talk of Copyright infringement? What penalties are applicable in such cases?

We face copyright infringement when the right of the author is violated through:

1. Plagiarism;
2. Reproduction for commercial purposes;
3. Modification without authorization

Plagiarism
We meet plagiarism when a work is totally or partially reproduced and its authorship is illegitimately attributed to someone that is not the effective author.
Reproduction for commercial purposes – this type of violation takes place when a musical, cinematographic, literary, artistic, etc. work is illegally reproduced and sold without the authorization of the author.

Modification
The author is the only who can modify the works. Any other modification made by someone else is considered illegal.
It was around the sixteenth century, when the English monarchy, willing to exercise a greater control on the works published and spread in the territory, that the first laws against copyright infringement were issued. The first provisions ordered the requisition of all the publications which were not authorized by the author or the editor.

The penalties for those who violates the author’s right are very severe today. Copyright infringement is prosecutable and a simple condemnation to the competent authorities is sufficient to activate the judicial apparatus.

YOU: “Which usage of a work represent a violation?”

“Piracy” interests:
• Texts;
• Musical works;
• Films;
• Pictures or Photos;
• Websites;
• Software
And much more.

Internet, social medias and Youtube exponentially multiplied the occasion of copyright infringement and it is not only about the copy of a text.

Even the copy of texts in a website, of images registered in the Homepages of Facebook or the uploading of billions of videos in Youtube constitute a crime.

For this reason, the fight against copyright infringement still is one of the main problem also for important companies like Google. In 2016, Google issued a report on the “weapons” used to contrast this problem (even if the main topics were the rights of the author and online copyright). Here there is an extract of ”How Google fights piracy” . It explains in what extent videos, music and apps represent a treasure that all authors should protect.

YOU: “How can an author defend his/her own rights against abuses?”

The first thing to do is filing the work at SIAE with the help of an expert. Then, there are specific software doing methodical controls, they identify the website that illegally reproduced the work.

Only with the help of an expert in copyright, you can secure your work from plagiarism and have a total protection of your rights.

If you experienced a copyright infringement or you fear online abuses, contact us using the form below, one of our experts of the Copyright department will contact you for a first completely free CheckUp.

Write to [email protected] and contact us now.