Opposite to a lot of what as been said all piracy is, is breaking the contract of which you signed with the distributer.
If you download a game from a file shareing site(wether that is a torrent or not) you are not makeing an illegal act, for downloading that file doesnt break the contraqct you inhearently signed with the provider, which is generally do not reditribute or sell.
In this situation it is the uploader who is in the wrong, they have broken both the games distributers contract in that they can not redistribute or sell the product in question, and they have brocken the upload sites contract, that they should not be uploading copywrited files.
And the filehoast is actually not doing anything illegal, provided that when the games distributer hands them a cease and dissist that they obey. They get around any wrong by the fact that with the uploader they will have added a claus stateing that(previously mentioned) no copywrited matirial can be uploaded.
This is very similar with music in videos, The viewer has had no illegal acts by simply viewing it, nor does the file hoast, as both of these partys have protection by the contract they signed, however the uploader in this case is the only one at faul as they broke the contract to both the copywrite holder and the sites contract with them.
In the case of "It will never come to my area so I can download it" this applys to all cases similar, the person who downloaded the file is in no legal trouble, as long as when they get a court order destruction order they follow it, this means that when the uploader gets a fine and is sent to jail(im an Aussie and I cringe at that spelling,
) all you have to do is erase all copys of the file.
The only time where the downloader of the site hoasting the upload would get in trouble would be if they didn't conform to the order they recive from the court, or if the court can prove malicious intent, which means that you were going to sell it, knowing that that is illegal, or that you were profiting off it knowingly.
So Basicly as a general rule of thumb, don't download any suspicious files, if you cant see the contract from the hoast and the game and conferm that no wrong doing is on your behalf, don't download it.
And to the people who say "it isnt hurting there bottom line" well actually it is. If Everyone, instead of paying for the product, downloaded it for free, the company wouldnt be getting any profit, downloading does hurt there bottom line, so that is no exuse.
Now all ive said is the US(and Australia, we have almost identical law in this regaurd) laws take on this, this does not incude the law from specific places, some states or countries have different and additional laws, so make sure you check your local law as well.
One more thing, abandon ware. This Is Legal. Abandon ware is when a game is no longer supported by its creators and lisence holders and they have either given the expressed permission to have it freely distributed, the licence has cut out (some will have a cut out date on them, but it is not the norm anymore) or a loophole has been found.
If you download a game from a file shareing site(wether that is a torrent or not) you are not makeing an illegal act, for downloading that file doesnt break the contraqct you inhearently signed with the provider, which is generally do not reditribute or sell.
In this situation it is the uploader who is in the wrong, they have broken both the games distributers contract in that they can not redistribute or sell the product in question, and they have brocken the upload sites contract, that they should not be uploading copywrited files.
And the filehoast is actually not doing anything illegal, provided that when the games distributer hands them a cease and dissist that they obey. They get around any wrong by the fact that with the uploader they will have added a claus stateing that(previously mentioned) no copywrited matirial can be uploaded.
This is very similar with music in videos, The viewer has had no illegal acts by simply viewing it, nor does the file hoast, as both of these partys have protection by the contract they signed, however the uploader in this case is the only one at faul as they broke the contract to both the copywrite holder and the sites contract with them.
In the case of "It will never come to my area so I can download it" this applys to all cases similar, the person who downloaded the file is in no legal trouble, as long as when they get a court order destruction order they follow it, this means that when the uploader gets a fine and is sent to jail(im an Aussie and I cringe at that spelling,
) all you have to do is erase all copys of the file.The only time where the downloader of the site hoasting the upload would get in trouble would be if they didn't conform to the order they recive from the court, or if the court can prove malicious intent, which means that you were going to sell it, knowing that that is illegal, or that you were profiting off it knowingly.
So Basicly as a general rule of thumb, don't download any suspicious files, if you cant see the contract from the hoast and the game and conferm that no wrong doing is on your behalf, don't download it.
And to the people who say "it isnt hurting there bottom line" well actually it is. If Everyone, instead of paying for the product, downloaded it for free, the company wouldnt be getting any profit, downloading does hurt there bottom line, so that is no exuse.
Now all ive said is the US(and Australia, we have almost identical law in this regaurd) laws take on this, this does not incude the law from specific places, some states or countries have different and additional laws, so make sure you check your local law as well.
One more thing, abandon ware. This Is Legal. Abandon ware is when a game is no longer supported by its creators and lisence holders and they have either given the expressed permission to have it freely distributed, the licence has cut out (some will have a cut out date on them, but it is not the norm anymore) or a loophole has been found.
