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Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement. Copyright infringement disputes are usually resolved through direct negotiation, a notice and take down process, or litigation in civil court. Egregious or large-scale commercial infringement, especially when it involves counterfeiting, is sometimes prosecuted via the criminal justice system. Shifting public expectations, advances in digital technology, and the increasing reach of the Internet have led to such widespread, anonymous infringement that copyright-dependent industries now focus less on pursuing individuals who seek and share copyright-protected content online, and more on expanding copyright law to recognize and penalize – as "indirect" infringers – the service providers and software distributors which are said to facilitate and encourage individual acts of infringement by others. Estimates of the actual economic impact of copyright infringement vary widely and depend on many factors. Nevertheless, copyright holders, industry representatives, and legislators have long characterized copyright infringement as ''piracy'' or ''theft'' – language which some U.S. courts now regard as pejorative or otherwise contentious.〔〔〔 == Terminology == The terms ''piracy'' and ''theft'' are often associated with copyright infringement.〔 The original meaning of ''piracy'' is "robbery or illegal violence at sea", but the term has been in use for centuries as a synonym for acts of copyright infringement.〔〔 ''Theft'', meanwhile, emphasizes the potential commercial harm of infringement to copyright holders. However, copyright is a type of intellectual property, an area of law distinct from that which covers robbery or theft, offenses related only to tangible property. Not all copyright infringement results in commercial loss, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that infringement does not ''easily'' equate with theft.〔''Dowling v. United States'' (1985), 473 U.S. 207, pp. 217–218.〕 In the case ''MPAA v. Hotfile'', Judge Kathleen Williams granted a motion to deny the prosecution the usage of pejorative words in the copyright infringement case.〔 This list included the words "piracy," "theft," "stealing," and their derivatives – the use of which, even if the defendants had been found to have directly infringed on the Plaintiffs’ copyrights, the defense asserted, would serve no purpose but to misguide and inflame the jury. The plaintiff argued the common use of the terms when referring to copyright infringement should invalidate the motion, but the judge did not concur. (The case was settled shortly before it reached the jury phase of the trial.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Copyright infringement」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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