Guide On Dealing With Copyright Infringement

PLEASE READ FIRST
The information contained within is a compilation of sources and working knowledge found abroad and within tight circles. The scope of this project is by all means to engage the reader with information that they can use to strengthen their defensive posture when dealing with adverse situations and potential risks related to copyright infringement. It does not take the place of sound judgment. If you feel that you are doing something illegal and worried about the consequences. Don�t do it! There is no turning back once the proverbial door is open.

Useful links:
Copyright infringement explained:
CODE
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Using �IP Blocking� and Blocklists (P2P):
CODE
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Introduction to I.P. Filter:
CODE
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Infringement Support:
CODE
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DNS / WHOIS TOOL:
CODE
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General Rogue P2P Sites:
CODE
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(AUTHORS NOTE: SAFE TO VIEW NO ACTIVE LINKS ON LIST)
Known Bad Ports:
CODE
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Block Lists

it works like this:

Your downloading file-X the bad guys are looking at file-X They can see you and file-X but because you block them from connecting to your computer and yours from theirs... They just know you exist they can't know the file that you are trying to download because the I.P Filter or PG2 wont let them connect to see it...

But you still show up as all ips do... Look at the peer list in your Bit-torrent Client... The same way you see them they see you... Its like looking into a two way Window only you have the lights turned out on your side giving you access to the file in question, But blocking them from seeing the file you are downloading...

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I-Blocklist:
CODE
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a NEW site dedicated to the creation and distribution of quality IP lists for use with IP blockers such as PeerGuardian, Protowall, and Moblock
BlueTack Internet security Solutions [B.I.S.S.] :
CODE
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Vista Info

Windows Vista Teredo Tunneling explained:
CODE
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Why Teredo blocking is important
All Windows Vista machines come with a service known as "Teredo" enabled by default. This enables you to access the IPv6 internet using IPv4. It also means that any IPv4 user can masquerade as being on IPv6 in attempt to evade IP blockers and firewalls.


This information was given to me by a friend whom is an IT specialist who works for a top cable company. It took many sessions of cold beer to derive, and clears up how the process works:


The Major Anti P2P Companies:

BayTSP: Primary service is to search the Internet for copyright infringement.

ESA: Entertainment Software Association (Video Games etc. Self explained)

BSA: Business Software Alliance (OS systems, Applications, Etc)

MediaDefender: Floods file sharing networks with decoy files, log IP addresses of users on P2P networks. Also known as Net2EZ

IFPI International Federation of the Phonographic Industry: Notorious for taking down smaller P2P sites. Works hand in hand with "BREIN"

BREIN:The Dutch anti-piracy organization threatening with lawsuits and high fines

MediaSentry: Employed by many music, movie, software and television companies to catch IP addresses of users who share files on P2P networks. Also run's mirror anti P2P called EZ2.net.

SafeNet: The Parent company of MediaSentry which also runs anti P2P watches and sniffers!


Note: Never, ever browse to any anti P2P websites / Homepage while using a P2P application or any other time for that matter!

How they go about finding you�

CODE
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1. The client connects to the P2P network, searches for sources of the infringing file, and collects the IP addresses that were gathered through the search.
2. The client requests to download (a piece of) the file from the host that was found through the search.
3. The filename, file size, IP-address, P2P protocol, P2P application, time, and the username are automatically inserted into a database, if the host permits the download.
4. This is the �best� part. The application does a WHOIS search for the ISP information and automatically sends an infringement letter to the ISP if needed.roups Trace P2P Sharing

DEALING WITH ONLINE COPYRIGHTS INFRINGEMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH DMCA
Copyright infringement is a very common phenomenon on the internet. The most common and most frequent copyright violations happening over the internet according to copyright infringement statistics is 'content duplication'. This is followed by infringement involving reselling of digital products. I will be discussing how you can deal with these types of copyright infringement cases. The article is a bit technical, but I have tried to keep it as simple as possible by adopting a step by step training module.

Please note that each step has a 'read more' link which will give you more information about the processes involved in a single step. The entire process has been divided into two major sections as follows:
1.) Finding out details about the person infringing your copyrights, Hosting Company, Payment Processors etc.

2.) Reporting copyright infringement to Authorities like Search engines, Hosting companies, Payment Processors, ISP and other internet crime reporting organizations

So let's get started�.

Step 1: Finding and Noting Down Contact Details of the Infringing Website

a) Check and note contact details listed on the infringing website
cool.gif Check and note contact details of the site as listed on whois server using
CODE
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. The following details are to be noted:
� Registrant Name:
� Address 1:
� Address 2:
� Country:
� Phone Numbers:
� Time Zone:
� Registrant Email Address:
� Domain Booked on:
� Domain Expires on:
� Name Server 1:
� Name Server 2:
� IP Address:
c) Find out if the website is using any kind of redirects and note down the URLs if any redirection is found. (You can check redirects using
CODE
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. If yes, find the whois information of the redirected domain and note similar details as above.

Important Things to Note:
� The contact details on the site and the contact details on the whois information should match. If not, do some further research using the details to find out the actual company
� Present both addresses on the DMCA report as 'Contact Address Listing on Website' and 'Contact Address on Whois '
� In case of private whois address, contact the organization offering the privacy service (generally the registrant) with a DMCA letter
� Try to get more information about the people or company operating the website by checking the back links, copyright information, privacy policies or anything that can give you a cue forward
Step 2: Finding the Company that Hosts the Infringer's Website

Check the who-is information of the IP Address (as found in step 1) and note down the following

a) Organization Name
cool.gif Name Server 1 and 2
c) Address with Email and Phone Nos.
d) Website URL

Important Things to Note:
� Try to find out information about the Parent Hosting Company and not the Reseller Hosting Company. Most websites are hosted on reseller accounts. The Parent Hosting Company is generally found by finding out whois information of the IP address listed in Whois of the infringing website. The reseller account on the other hand can be found by checking the whois of the infringing website's name servers

-> Make sure that in all cases you send a DMCA to the parent hosting company can if possible to the reseller hosting provider as well

-> In most cases the reseller account is owned by the offender himself. So sending a mail to the reseller hosting provider is of little or no use.
� If the URL of the hosting company is not listed in the whois data, you can make a search for the organization name in Google to find out the name
� If the hosting provider has a live chat facility, use the facility to get to know the best way to reach the abuse department
� After sending an email to the abuse department, make sure to take a note of the 'support ticket' number
� If possible, try and call up the abuse department directly along with sending them an email
Step 3: Finding the ISP Service Provider of the Infringer and his Place of Operation

a) Send an email to the infringer asking for some sale related or website related question
cool.gif Check the email headers of the reply mail to locate the IP address of the sender
c) Do a Whois check of the IP to find the ISP information
d) Note down contact details of the ISP. This is also the place of operation of the Infringer

Important Things to Note:
� The only way to find out ISP information is to find the IP address of the person operating the infringing website. The IP address can be located by tricking the offender into sending an email to you
� Make sure that you use a free email account (yahoo, Gmail etc.) to contact the offender
� Trick the offender into sending you an email by requesting information about his products/services or by asking some query regarding his website
� Keep contacting the offender using different email addresses with different queries unless he responds
� Space your emails properly and vary the topic and writing styles so that he does not suspect
� Do not waste much time, if you are not able to get the ISP information. The web hosting provider is the most important person to contact in these cases

Step 4: Finding Contact Details of Payment Gateways (if Any. Applicable in case of product infringement)

Find out which payment gateway/processors the site is using and note down the contact details found on their website. You can do this using the following steps:
� Locate a product on the infringing website and try to make a purchase. This will take you to the payment gateway payment interface giving you information about the company offering the service
� Do a search in Google with the website name and after making doubly sure that you are dealing with the right company, proceed to do a whois search

Note: The following steps are optional, but can prove very useful, especially in case of digital product infringement.

Step 5: Collecting Information on Internet Visibility of the Infringing Website

a) Find Page Rank of Website
cool.gif Find Alexa Rank of Website (current, weekly and monthly)
c) Number of Cached pages in Google, Yahoo and MSN (Find cached pages using the command, site:http://www.sitename.com)
d) Backlinks of the website in Yahoo! (Check back links of the website using the command, link:http://www.sitename.com)
e) Site Existence (find out site existence using
CODE
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Step 6: Finding Info on what Promotion Techniques the Site is Using

a) Inorganic Promotion: Find a list of related keywords and check sponsored ads of Google, yahoo and MSN to see if the Site Ad appears for those keyword queries. Note down all engines that display ads of the advertiser
� Google Sponsored Ads Search:
CODE
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� Overture Sponsored Ads Search:
CODE
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� MSN: Check directly thought search results
cool.gif Organic Promotion: Find out if the infringing site is ranking in top 50 positions for any of the related keywords

What to do with this information?
This information will help you find out about the level of business you have lost to this person. This will also give you information about the ways the infringer's website is getting traffic. You can use this information to decide how exact to proceed further.
� If the infringing website is using search engine PPC networks to drive traffic, you should be sending DMCA letters to these departments urging them to stop offering advertising to the infringer
� If the infringer is getting traffic organically, you should be released DMCA to the search engines urging them to remove the website of the infringer from their Index

Step 7: Finding Monetization Techniques Used by the Infringing Site

a) Check the Infringing site and find out if it is displaying PPC or other forms of Advertising
cool.gif Locate and Note the source of the Ads (Ad source can be found by right clicking on the Ads and checking the Ad properties)
c) Find and note client ID associated with these ads

What to do with this information?
You can mail the Ad companies and urge them to suspend the infringer's ad account. This will certainly be a blow to the infringer.

Click here to download a document where you can note down all these details

Part II: The Below can be treated as part 2 of the website which involves taking Action Against the Infringing Website

The below discusses how you can take action against the infringing website with the help of the information you collected in the previous step.

Step 8: Taking Action against the Infringing Site

a) Send a Cease and Desist email asking the infringing website to shut their operations within 24 hours
cool.gif Send DMCA notifications to the following
� Google, Yahoo! and MSN (fax as well as email the notification)
� Hosting Company (asking them to suspend the hosting account immediately)
� ISP (asking to discontinue services)
� Payment Processors (if any)
� Advertising Networks used by the Infringer (if any)
c) Send mails to third party advertisers (if any) asking them to suspend the infringer's Ad account

Important Things to Note for Sending Cease and Desist email:
� Send out proper Cease and Desist Email Depending on the nature of infringement
� Do not send more than one email and start the DMCA proceedings if no response is received within 24 hours of email sent
� Send Cease and Desist emails to all email addresses present on the website and whois information. Also send the mail through contact forms if any, present on the offender's website
� Do not bother if the offender does not respond to your queries. In most cases they don't. You can carry on with DMCA proceedings and ensure that the offending website is suspending from hosting
Important Things to Note for Sending DMCA notification:
� If you are Faxing the DMCA Document, Fax it over a Company Letter Head. Note down the date of fax send and keep delivery reports in file for future reference
� If you are sending the DMCA through Email, make sure to send a copy to abuse@sitename and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
� Make sure that you have checked the documents thoroughly before you fax or email it
� Fax can be sent to Google.com and the hosting companies. Yahoo! and MSN prefer receiving the DMCA via email
� Some Hosting companies and Payment Gateways have different formats for DMCA. So make sure to check if there are any specifications mentioned on the site
� The DMCA report should contain direct links to online original copyrights wherever available
� Keep following up with the DMCA mail on a daily basis, but do not send more than one mail a day. Follow up mails need to be simple and precise with a clear tone
� If any of the parties contacted responds to your DMCA queries and takes necessary action, use that mail to convince others to follow suite.
Useful Resources:

Cease and Desist Email Formats

Sample Cease and Desist Email Format for Content Infringement

SUB: Legal Cease and Desist Notice Against infringingsitename.com From: Your Name, Legal Department, Company Name and Address

This is the legal department of (Company Name). We have come to identify that your website infringingsitename.com is illegally duplicating and reproducing copyrighted content from our site sitename.com.

Stop duplicating our content and remove all infringing pages immediately. If you do not abide to this in the next 24 hours of this mail receipt, we will have to carry out legal proceedings against you. We will also release DMCA complaints as per Section 512 with all major search engines, hosting provider and you Ad partners, Chitika Ads. So your site will be banned permanently from the SE database and dropped from hosting.

All content and images on oursitename.com is copyrighted by US laws and any kind of duplication or reproduction is illegal.

We want you to stop this infringement immediately or else get ready to be sued for damages.

For, sitename.com

Your Name,
Legal Team,
(Company Name)

Sample C&D Format for Product Infringement:

This is the legal department of (Company Name). We have come to identify that your website infringingsitename.com is illegally selling our icons as a part of a resale package the online location for which is

infringingsitename.com/url1
infringingsitename.com/ulr2
Other urls that display the product

We want you to discontinue this product and remove all our icons and icons of other sites immediately. If you do not abide by this in the next 24 hours of this mail receipt we will have to carry out legal proceedings against you. We will also release DMCA complaints with all major search engines, hosting provider and payment gateway PayPal. So your site will be banned permanently from the SE database and dropped from hosting. You will also be reported to all online crime control centers including the powerful internationally functional ic3.gov.

All our products are copyrighted by US laws and selling them illegally is a crime. Check here to see our scanned copyrights:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (if any)

We want you to stop this product within 24 hours or-else get ready to be sued for damages.

For, Sitename.com,

Your Name,
Legal Team,
(Company Name)
Sample DMCA Formats: Please click here to download sample DMCA formats
Name and Addresses of Search Engines to Send DMCA

For Google Inc:

Google, Inc.
Attn: User Support, DMCA Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Send via fax to: (650) 618-2649

For Microsoft Corporation:

The Microsoft Network, LLC; MSNBC Interactive News, LLC; MSBET, LLC; Link Exchange, Inc.; WebTV Networks, Inc.

c/o J.K. Weston
One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052
PH: (425) 703-5529
Email: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
FX: (425) 936-7329
Send via: Email

For Yahoo! Inc:

Daniel Dougherty
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Email: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
FX: (408) 349-7821
Sent via: Mail


Email Address Tracing Service:
CODE
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Sites that allow you to report fraud online:

1.)
CODE
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2.)
CODE
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3.)
CODE
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(Cyber Threat/Network incident report)
4.)
CODE
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(Computer crime point of contact list. Need PDF reader)


Find ISD codes to all locations on the earth:
CODE
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Segregate countries based on Time zones:
CODE
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" target="_blank">
CODE
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Glossary of Important Terms


Infringement: An unauthorized use of material (like digital products/website content etc.) protected by copyright, patent or trademark law. For instance, if A reproduces the copyrighted content present on B's website, without his permission, A is violating B's Copyrights. So B can sue A for infringement of his content.


DMCA: Digital Millennium Copyright Act is an Act Passed in 1998, to bring copyright law up to date with digital/online media


ISP: Internet service provider or ISP is a company offering internet connection services. Every ISP assigns a static or dynamic IP address to the customer using which the customer's place of operation can be tracked


Dynamic IP Address: An IP address which keeps changed. For instance, a dynamic ISP IP address is an IP which keeps changing every time a customer logs on to the internet


Static IP Address: A static IP address is an IP Address which remains static and does not change. For instance, a static ISP IP address is an IP does not change irrespective of how many times the customer logs on the internet. In this case, the IP is permanently assigned to the customer.


Hosting: Also known as web hosting or website hosting is a business that offers sever space for websites to host/save their files so they are accessible online 24 hours.

Domain Name: Domain name is an unique name that identifies a website over the internet. Every domain name is associated with an IP address


IP Address: An IP address is a set of numeric digits separated by dots, given to servers and users that connect to the internet.


ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions


Domain Registrar: A "Registrar" (or "Domain Name Registrar") is an organization like Network Solutions that has control over the granting of domains


PPC Ads: PPC stands for Pay per click ads. In these types of ads the advertiser pays the publisher some amount of money for every click his site receives


Sponsored Listings: Sponsored Listings are listings that have been paid for. In the SERPs, sponsored listings are generally listed on the right hand side of the regular search results


Organic Listing: Organic listings are the regular search engine results that are displayed by the search engine for user queries. The position of these listings is decided by the search engines.


Inorganic Listing: Inorganic listings are sponsored listings that are displayed by the search engines in a listing order depending on the price paid by the advertiser for the ad.


SERP: SERPs are Search Engine Results Pages which refers to the resulting listings that are shown when a keyword is searched upon.


Cease and Desist: Cease-and-desist is a legal term meaning essentially stop: It is used in demands for a person or organization to permanently stop doing something (to cease and desist from doing it).


Online Payment Gateways: A combination of software and hardware that provides an interface to process payments online


Back Links: All the links pointing at a particular web page. Also called inbound links.


Website Traffic: The number of visitors that a website receives. Calculated on a daily or monthly basis


Page Rank: Devised by Google, it measures not only how many links point to a website, but the "quality" of the sites providing the links


Alexa Rank: Alexa is a ranking methodology which ranks websites based on the traffic they receive from the alexa community. A community consists of members using the alexa toolbar in their browser


Google Adsense: AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors.


Google Adwords: A Pay Per Click (PPC) program of advertising on Google. The ads appear on the right hand side of the Google Search page on keywords / key phrases that you choose.


Plagiarism: The false presentation of someone else's writing as one's own. In the case of copyrighted work, plagiarism is illegal. Also referred as content duplication, wherein a website copies and displays content from another website.


Copyrights: A copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted by government to protect the particular form, way or manner in which an idea or information is expressed.


Reseller Hosting: Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting wherein the account owner may split up their allotted hard drive space and bandwidth and resell web hosting space offered by the Primary or Main Hosting Provider. The reseller does not own hosting servers, but uses servers offered by the Primary/Main Hosting Company


Archive.Org: A service which records and keeps an archive of all visible websites on the internet


Domain Registrant: A registrant is the person or company who registers a domain name. For example, Joe Smith (registrant) registers the name joesmith.com through 1stDomain.net (registrar) who in turn submits the name to the central database (Registry).


Name Servers: Nameservers (or Domain Name Servers) are the machines that perform the DNS function by providing the mapping of domain names to IP addresses.


Whois: WHOIS databases contain nameserver, registrar, and in some cases, full contact information about a domain name.


Private Whois: A private whois information does not allow the contact details of a website to be publicly viewable. To view such an Whois information, the registrar has to be contacted with valid reasons.


URL Redirection: URL redirection is a technique on the World Wide Web for making a web page/site automatically redirect to another webpage/site with or without the surfer's knowledge


Email Redirection: Email redirection is a technique in which email sent to an address is automatically routed to another email address


UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES [NEVER CONTACT AN ANTI-P2P COMPANY]

why you may ask?


#1 reason

they in most cases don�t know who you are and if you give them information about yourself, they will pursue you more.

If you get an e-letter saying you have been caught downloading "copyrighted" material, DELETE the e-letter ASAP. It might be spam. If you delete it the worst that can happen is they may send you another and another and another, but mark it as spam and move on and let your spam filter filter those kinds of e-letter. Getting e-letters is not the end of the world. Just as long as you keep it cool and stop downloading "copyrighted" material and heed the warnings.

If by a chance you got an e-letter and there is a link inside the e-letter, do not under any circumstances click on it. Do not give them a reason to sue you.

They do not know who you are; let's just keep it that way.

If you just got a nasty letter, keep your modem plugged in, turn your lights back on, stop calling four drops of water a "full glass" - they are not going to take all of your money, and you are ~more than likely~ not going to go to jail!

Here's why:
When it comes to most ISPs, don't let the abuse e-mails scare you. Quite often- notices of infringement through "electronic mail" are ridiculously unprofessional, especially when the ISP fails to provide any supporting evidence along with their demands. Remember that as long as your ISP is refusing, or unable, to provide evidence of ToS violations, your ISP cannot take any action whatsoever that could negatively impact services rendered to you, or any action that would involve law enforcement; it gives you a reason to sue.

The majority of the time, you will receive an e-mail notice of infringement; they are to be taken very lightly. Your #1 priority is to catch on to the idea that what you've been doing on P2P networks is illegal, and that if you keep doing it it will get worse. Aside from that, delete it.

It's always important to weigh acknowledging to your ISP your stance on the matter. If you are operating from a wireless router, your ISP will almost certainly understand that, if you live in a crowded neighborhood, you may not be knowledgeable enough to lock down your router and prevent others from distributing illegally; understand that most ISPs will tell you that it is your responsibility to maintain your connection is not being used for any illegal purpose. Ask them for a learning resource or if they could help you secure your connection. "You can't charge Bob for a murder John committed with a knife Bob owned," I say.

If you choose not to acknowledge, stop doing it, and do whatever you can to prevent it from happening for at least the next 6 to 7 months. ISPs *do* log ToS violations, and failure to acknowledge can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing; good: if you have done this before and are afraid of risking your service with your ISP, and bad: if it happens within a relatively short matter of time proceeding the last incident.

If you decide to keep going, you'll end up with a letter in the mail. At this point, you need to take this matter seriously; not because someone printed up a template letter and mailed it to you, but because the matter couldn't be handled by a phone call or e-mail reminder. If you get a letter, the chances of your ISP siding with you are slim- really slim. You've either lied, or continued to violate ToS and they've received more notices- they start believing this isn't a matter of you downloading a stupid game or movie here and there.

If you get the letter, and are convinced to stop, send a personalized, typed letter to your ISP with a sincere apology for the inconvenience this has caused them and that you apologize for failing to have acknowledged the issue sooner, but that you will fully cooperate with them to clear up this matter, then take steps to ensure the maximal prevention of this crime in the future. Explain to them that you were either aware, or not made aware, but had asked a number of individuals on how to approach the matter and that you were unsure how to resolve this before it got worse. Thank them for allowing you the opportunity to clean up the mess that has been made, and finish it off with a compliment about their service (NOT "For the fifteen minutes I'm 'always on' throughout the day, you run halfway decent!"... More like "I'm very happy with my investment in your company's services"). If they give you instructions, do them.

Let's say you end up in court cos you didn't stop...

Your ISP is subpoenaed for your full name, address, etc. (As a side note, anti-p2p companies are given *no* personal information about you or your service - it is illegal for your ISP to do so, even in a contractual agreement, as you cannot sign away any of your rights - so they have *no* base ID to log each infringement by [you can't trace dynamic IPs to previous dynamic IPs, they have no solid info about you, etc.]. If you're catching on here, they subpoena at random.) You have 30 days to argue your case in a (I believe) district court- you have to present a valid reason as to why the subpoena should be denied.

Let's say the subpoena isn't denied...

You are first contacted by lawyers for the anti-p2p company. Their focus is on getting you to agree to an out-of-court settlement for an amount FAR less than what they want to take you to court for. They will pressure you with everything they've got, but once you say "no�, you're in court.

So you find out that instead of the $3,000 they wanted you to pay for downloading that new ___fill in the blank___ CD, they want you to pay up $23,000 - plus their legal fees. You have to hire a lawyer, present a case, etc. In the end, you'll most likely lose, why? Because they are willing to spend $730,000 to get $33,000 and your reputation.

You think that's bad? Just wait.

What you were sued for may not be an actual felony charge, but the reason for the lawsuit will appear on a background check. Most employers will not employ individuals who have been sued or convicted of embezzlement, fraud, money laundering, *copyright infringement*, patent infringement, or trademark infringement; Why? They don't want you stealing their money, lying to them, making fake money, stealing their products and reselling them below what the company markets them for, stealing their product development information and ideas, or stealing their slogans, style, etc. You're a liability after that.

Chances are your current boss will fire you when you try for that promotion (cos almost every single promotion includes a background check).

So, stop. Whatever you're doing- stop. You *could* be stuck in a jail cell, or you could spend your life paying off a $50,000 debt because you liked Christina Aguilera too little to just buy the damn song you like off the album. What's even worse is the fact that your name will be used in news articles, statistics, and inquiries- you won't be you to the world; you'll be another victim of the RIAA, MPAA, etc.

But now it's my turn to give you a reason to stop freaking out:

The entirety of anti-p2p Company practices are really up in the air. What they are doing can be considered extortion, duress, stalking, harassment, violation of privacy, trespassing, hacking, and even invalidating any civil case they have due to a direct violation of the ToS (if they have one) for the networks they are catching people on.

Unless you are mass distributing copyrighted media, felony charges of infringement will not be brought up in your case. The reason? Federal courts are quick to throw out cases that will cost more than they will benefit; and they can use that extra hour or two to do some work on a case that desperately needs attention. I am not placing a definition on "mass distributing"- it could be 5 copies, it could be 500, it could even be 50,000 before it reaches "mass distribution".

What most people do not hear about is how many subpoenas are filed that gets denied. Over half of the subpoenas the RIAA and MPAA have filed have been denied. The reason is that a printout is not good enough evidence to allow a subpoena- anyone can create a false "copyright infringement report"; and your ISP will not testify on their side or your side because of public backlash, unless ordered to do so. They cannot prove sufficient evidence to support reoccurring committing of the crime you're being accused of, and if they do, you can argue fraud, and the presiding judge has to order them to present a legal system for acquiring the information they are presenting as evidence (good luck with that one, BayTSP).

Most P2P users distribute copyrighted content- either independent or mass-market. Indies just have much better things to do than go sue happy, but that doesn't mean they won't eventually get to it. So don't think downloading relatively unknown copyrighted material is an OK thing to do - at some point it won't be.

Here's a common question: What about games or music or movies we can't find in stores or on online stores anymore? P2P is your only option. A good example is the game Startopia. Developed by 3 former employees of Bullfrog, Startopia was a strategy game where you got to run a space station- it was the coolest game I had ever seen, and I loved playing it. It only sold 15,000 copies (as compared to The Sims which has sold over 40,000,000). After that game was released, the company folded - so distribution stopped. You can't find the game in stores anymore, and you can't find it any retail online stores (except MAYBE eBay or Amazon)... so P2P right? Right.

I hate to say it, but distribution of copyright content that is no longer capable of being bought and sold on a scale that is efficient is understandable - EA has never sued someone for downloading and redistributing Startopia, even though they own the rights to it. The important thing is to get in contact with the company first. If the company folded, go for it, if they haven't, ask them if and where you can get a hold of it - if they say they don't distribute it anymore, P2P it.