On the Criminal Responsibly of End-User Software Piracy
MA Zhi-guo · Xi'an Jiaotong Daxue xuebao · 2006
Software products are protected under the copyright law,but this protection has been fairly ineffec- tive,especially at times when the law is dealing with a special group of infringers—the end-users or the cus- tomers in the circumstances of rampant intellectual property fight infringements and software piracies.In the market,the end-users,as buyers,enjoy rights without being restrained by any obligation.On the other hand, they are the actual infringers of software copyright.Then how to protect the intellectual property rights of this special kind of technical products and meanwhile not to affect the interest of the customers have become a seri- ous issue.Civil responsibility of software piracy has been roughly clear,but since this is not enough to deter infringers,it is expected in the software industry that criminal responsibility will be ascertained.However, caution has to be exercised on the issue of criminal responsibility of end-users.As mainland China is still not able to meet the necessary conditions,the transition from civil responsibility to criminal responsibility has to be carried out in a gradual and conditional way.