If you do not have legal permission, and you go ahead and copy or distribute copyrighted music anyway, you can be prosecuted in criminal court and/or sued for damages in civil court.
Criminal penalties can run up to 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines, even if you didn’t do it for monetary or financial or commercial gain.
Having the hardware to make unauthorized music recordings doesn’t give you the right to steal.
January 25, 2005
ASCAP Statement Regarding Today's Filing In Supreme Court Of A Friend Of The Court Brief In The Grokster Case
ASCAP filed an amicus brief jointly with BMI, AIMP, the Church Music Publishers Association, NSAI and the Songwriters Guild. ASCAP's President and Chairman, Marilyn Bergman, said:
"It is unjust and unfair to allow peer-to-peer services to escape liability for their actions in inducing individuals to infringe copyrights -- actions upon which the P2P services' entire business is based. The law and common sense tell us that they should be liable for their actions, and we trust that the Supreme Court will agree."
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