Internet Piracy and Spam

The Beverly Hills internet piracy lawyers at the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh are dedicated to assisting victims of Internet piracy and spam. Renowned for our skill in copyright and Internet law, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality legal representation to businesses and their relative websites throughout California.

Thanks to the Internet, we have the world at our fingertips. We can retrieve and disseminate data at lightning speeds and download music and movies with one simple click. Unfortunately, this convenience comes at a cost. Unlimited access to information and merchandise has spawned two unsavory problems: piracy and spam. Internet piracy refers to any use of the Internet to illegally copy or distribute software, including copyrighted music and movies. Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited advertisements in bulk. Examples of Internet piracy and spam include:

• Making pirated software available over the Internet
• Sharing software, music, or movies freely through peer-to-peer systems
• Selling counterfeit software on Internet auction sites
• Downloading illegal copies of software or music through file transfer protocol
• Circumventing digital rights through “cracks” and key-generators
• Selling compiled databases of user information to advertisers
• Sending email spam via “zombie networks”
• Transmitting viruses to personal computers
• Harvesting email addresses to send messages to contacts
• Installing “worms” to access computers without consent

At the crux of piracy wars are the competing concerns of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who cannot do their job if they are liable for every act of alleged infringement, and copyright owners, who cannot make a living if the world copies and distributes their products for free. Copyright owners argue Internet piracy violates copyright law while ISPs contend such laws censor free speech. Two controversial anti-piracy bills were recently struck down after opponents protested on the streets and over the Internet. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) were intended to strengthen protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft.

Unlike SOPA and PIPA, which target the site hosting unauthorized content, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) focuses on removing copyrighted content from the Internet. The DMCA is Congress’s attempt to balance the competing concerns of ISPs and copyright owners. It generally limits the liability of ISPs for unwittingly linking or referring users to sites containing infringing materials or for storing infringing material on their systems. Under the DMCA, ISPs “shall not be liable” for copyright infringement if they have no actual knowledge, receive no financial benefit, and expeditiously remove infringing material from their system.

With regard to unsolicited emails, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act to curb the use of spam. The Act required that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopt rules prohibiting the transmission of unwanted commercial email messages to computers and wireless devices without prior consent. The FCC ban applies to all “commercial messages” with the primary purpose of advertising or promoting a product or service. This includes messages sent to cell phones using an Internet address or domain name. The ban does not cover “transactional” messages that facilitate a transaction you already agreed to or non-commercial messages such as those about politics.

If you are the victim of Internet piracy or spam, the experienced Beverly Hills spam attorneys at the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh can help. We provide in-depth analysis of personal, corporate, transactional, and regulatory issues related to the Internet and websites. Our attorneys bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to complex disputes involving copyright infringement and spam. Whether you are a private user or content provider, we are here to protect your rights. At the Law Offices of Salar Atrizadeh, we understand that infringement hampers innovation and are committed to helping you find justice.