What is the penalty for online piracy?

What is the penalty for online piracy?

Online piracy is a civil offence in Canada, which means the only penalty offenders will face is a fine, not jail time.

What is online piracy?

Online piracy can take many forms including copying, modifying, distributing or selling software or online content in ways that contravene copyright laws or licencing terms. That essentially compromises the creator and distributor’s ability to be compensated for their work.

Online piracy usually takes place on a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing platform. Essentially, P2P piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted content – movies, music, software or games – without permission. Peer-to-peer networks use a distributed architecture where each computer or device (called a peer) can share and exchange files with others without relying on a central server.

Is online piracy in the Criminal Code?

The Criminal Code includes a charge for piracy but it refers to menacing or attacking commercial vehicles on the water. Online piracy, or the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted material for profit, is illegal under Canada's Copyright Act.

Is online piracy taken seriously by police?

According to Copyright Protection and Enforcement, a 2023 report from the U.S. International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), police agencies in Canada “are unable to effectively deal with organised piracy and increasingly fail to follow up on detailed cases referred to them by rightsholders.”

It states that “few resources are dedicated to prosecutions of piracy cases; prosecutors generally lack specialized training in prosecuting such offences, and too often dismiss the file or plead the cases out, resulting in weak penalties.”

The report notes that “the RCMP has been transferring its case files to municipal police forces, which, like the RCMP, too often lack the human and financial resources, and the strategic mandate, to properly investigate IP crimes or to prepare the cases for prosecution. Thus … they are simply unable to effectively deal with organized copyright piracy, and thus, increasingly fail to pursue even well-documented referrals from industry.”

Crown prosecutors are reluctant to “seek the breadth of remedies for IP crimes,” the report states, since they “generally lack specialized training in prosecuting such offences and too often dismiss the file or plead the cases out, resulting in weak penalties.”

In addition, the report adds, Canadian customs procedures place a legal compliance burden on rights holders (who must file a claim and track down importers of counterfeit goods) rather than on importers.

How many people illegally download material?

The IIPA report notes, “It is nearly impossible to overstate the magnitude of the piracy problem in Canada … in 2022, 22.4 per cent of Canadians accessed pirate services.”

According to information from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) of Canada, 26 per cent of Canadian content consumers accessed pirated music, movies, TV shows, video games, e-books and/or software in 2021.

The MPA adds:

• movies and TV shows were most likely to be downloaded, streamed or accessed illegally;
• there were 3.9 billion visits to piracy sites by Canadians that year;
• 36 per cent of Canadian movie consumers accessed pirated movies; and
• 34 per cent of Canadian TV show consumers accessed pirated TV shows.

The association states that many consumers do not realize that illicit streaming devices “may also pose serious cybersecurity threats by becoming an unrecognized vector for hacking and cyber-intrusions.”

It adds that one out of four “content theft sites visited by Canadians expose consumers to malicious content … 46 per cent of the malicious content on content theft sites visited by Canadians is phishing, where fake sites defraud users to log their user name and password information, often redirecting users to legitimate websites afterwards.”

What is the economic harm of online piracy?

According to the MPA, the estimated commercial value of pirated digital film content is $285.7 billion globally. It adds, “the displacement of legitimate economic activity by piracy has a negative effect on economic growth.”

What if I receive a settlement notice?

A 2023 news report notes that thousands of Canadians … are the targets of legal action for allegedly infringing on the copyright of a movie starring Ryan Reynolds through file sharing.”

Those notices can probably be ignored. As the federal government states in its Notices to Canadian Internet Subscribers, “the Copyright Act grants a number of exclusive rights to the authors of original works, for example the exclusive right to reproduce their works or to communicate them to the public.”

However, “receiving a notice does not necessarily mean that you have in fact infringed copyright or that you will be sued for copyright infringement … the Notice and Notice regime does not impose any obligations on a subscriber who receives a notice and it does not require the subscriber to contact the copyright owner or the intermediary.”It adds that notices that contain an offer to settle, or a request or demand for payment “does not comply with the regime … U.S. copyright fines and penalties do not apply in Canada.”

It concludes by noting that “statutory damages for non-commercial infringement in Canada do not exceed $5,000.”

Contact me for assistance

I deal with criminal charges that relate to internet usage. These include the distribution of child pornography, ransomware and cyber extortion. If you or a family member face changes for any criminal matter, contact me for a free consultation in French or English.