Illegal movie downloads could earn you 10 years in jail

This is copyright infringement and if convicted you could face a prison term of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to $250,000.

If you buy music, movies, or any other counterfeit goods, you are aiding and abetting criminal behaviour.

This is something the Department of Consumer Affairs is frequently asked about.

Copyright law in Bermuda is governed primarily by the Copyright and Designs Act 2004, which came into effect in February 2008.

The Registry General produced a very good electronic brochure entitled The World of Copyright and You. With their kind permission I am including the main points about copyright and copyright infringement.

What is copyright? Simply put, the person who wrote or created something owns it, not you.

Copyright is a form of protection given to the authors or creators of “original works of authorship”, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, broadcast and other intellectual works.

Does copyright protect everything? Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in “a tangible form of expression”.

As illustrated by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), copyright works include written works such as books, speeches, magazines and news-paper articles, novels, stories, poems, essays, plays, text books, web pages, advertisements and dance notations; musical works such as compositions, lyrics, songs and ring tones in all types of formats (sheet music, CDs, MP3 files and so on); artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs, comics, sculptures, architectural works and maps; dramatic and choreographic works such as plays, operas and dances; films and multimedia productions such as movies, video games, TV programmes and cartoons; computer programs such as human (source code) and machine (object code) computer programming language.

What is copyright infringement? This takes place when a copyrighted work is used — reproduced, translated, adapted, exhibited or performed in public, distributed, downloaded, broadcast or communicated to the public — without the owner’s permission or under a limitation to copyright.

It is possible to identify individuals who illegally upload and download copyrighted material on P2P networks.

Our local Internet Service Providers have a policy stating that Internet services for illegal activity, such as downloading music and videos without the owner’s consent, is a violation that can result in restriction, suspension or termination of service.

It is not uncommon in Bermuda for people to download music and movies, copy them and then sell them. This is illegal. Even if you simply make copies of your personal CDs and DVDs and sell them, it is still illegal.

There are websites where you can download music and movies for a fee or based on a subscription and this is not illegal, as long as you do not then make copies to sell on.