What is Piracy?
In the context of intellectual property rights, piracy is generally called any unauthorized use of copyright works. Particular names, such as grey piracy or internet piracy, are used for individual categories of unauthorized use of copyright works.
Namely, in compliance with the internationally accepted protection system of copyrights and the related rights, authors and other rights holders of the work have, except for exceptional limited cases, an exclusive right to dispose with these works. Therefore, any use of a copyright work requires an authorization of the right holder, or payment of the remuneration for such use. Some categories of copyright works, for which it would be practically impossible to exercise an individual right, these rights can be exercised via collective associations.
Unauthorized use of copyright audio works (music) and audio-visual works (movies, musical spots, videos and the like) in public (e.g. in a business shop, at a concert and the like) to gain material or other benefit, and without an authorization of the author and other rights holders of the work, or associations that exercise their rights, is called grey piracy.
Unauthorized multiplication (copying) and placing on the market (selling) of audio and audio-visual records is called black piracy.
Unauthorized use (making available for use, downloading, distributing) of audio and audio-visual works on the internet is called internet piracy, and the same name is used for software piracy on the internet.
Software piracy is called unauthorized multiplication or distribution of software protected by copyright. The same refers to multiplication, download from the internet, sharing, selling or installing multiple copies of software to personal or business computers.
Many users do not understand – or do not think about it – that, when buying a software, they only buy a licence for its use in compliance with the terms of sale, but not the software itself for its unlimited use. It is exactly the licence that provides for the terms of how and how many times this software can be installed, so it is to be read carefully. If a user makes more software copies than permitted by the licence – he commits a piracy.
The notion of piracy is connected with the notion of pirated products, too. Pirated products are unauthorized multiplied copies of works protected by copyright, or to put it in legal terms, all the products manufactured or multiplied without authorization of the right holder or a person authorized by the right holder, manufactured from a protected subject matter either directly or indirectly.