Roughly One Third of World's PC's own Counterfeiting Program

According to a recent study, more than one-third of the world's personal computers are unlawfully pirating copyrighted material, or at least have the program installed to do so.^[1]

According to the study by Digital Music News and BigChampagne, about 36 percent of the world's personal computers are equipped with LimeWire. LimeWire is a peer-to-peer program file sharing program that is currently at the center of a bitter copyright infringement lawsuit brought by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA).^[2] The 36 percent is up from 34 percent the year before.^[3]

The researchers said they came up with the figure by canvassing about 1.7 million desktops, and since everything shared on LimeWire is public and easily traceable the study is fairly reliable.^[4] Officials at both agencies did not immediately return messages seeking comment, nor did the New York-based maker of the P2P software that runs on the Gnutella network.^[5]

The RIAA wants up to $150,000 for each unauthorized work distributed over the LimeWire network. For its part, LimeWire demands its users, when downloading the file-sharing program "to refrain from using LimeWire for the purpose of copyright infringement," making this perhaps the world's most unenforced user agreement.^[6]

Willful copyright infringement
17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1) In general states that any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180–day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.^[7]

Forfeiture and Destruction.— When any person is convicted of any violation of subsection (a), the court in its judgment of conviction shall, in addition to the penalty therein prescribed, order the forfeiture and destruction or other disposition of all infringing copies or phonorecords and all implements, devices, or equipment used in the manufacture of such infringing copies or phonorecords.^[8]

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^[1] David Kravets, One in Three Hooked to P2P?, Wired Magazine Online, December 27, 2007, available at http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/12/one-in-three-ho.html (last visited December 29, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(2007).
^[8] Id. at 506(b).