Can you get arrested for buying Pirated Material?

BodyShot213

BodyShot213

Banned
I see so many people selling pirated dvds for so cheap, I'm often tempted to buy it.. My question is if, i happen to buy a copy and a cop shows up can i get arrested too?

Note: in my area pirated movies are costing the movie industry so their is alot of pressure to stop these people.
 
You would be receiving stolen goods. That is a criminal offence so yes, you would be arrested.

Ignorance of whether the goods are stolen or legit is also not a defence.

That is pretty much how the law breaks down.
 
You can be, however the only instance I'd see this happening is with an undercover cop selling bootlegs with the idea of arresting a few people to scare away buyers.
 
[quote name='62t']why would you pay for it when you can download it for free?[/quote]
Maybe he doesn't have broadband. I only got it a few months ago.
 
[quote name='62t']why would you pay for it when you can download it for free?[/QUOTE]


Often bootlegs are pretty cheap and come in a pretty nice looking casing with pressed DVDs and everything. Most noticably cheap but nice looking DVDs are the hundreds of animes on ebay.
 
[quote name='alonzomourning23']theoretically yes, but realistically no.[/QUOTE]

+1. You're probably not going to get nailed. OTOH, given the immorality and illegality of buying stolen goods, that should be enough to stop you.
 
Next thread: Can I get in throuble for snorting coke off a hookers ass? I mean, I saw it in a movie once, so its gotta be ok, right?
 
[quote name='Kayden']Next thread: Can I get in throuble for snorting coke of a hookers ass? I mean, I saw it in a movie once, so its gotta be ok, right?[/quote]

Depends. Is your last name Bush?
 
[quote name='Kayden']Next thread: Can I get in throuble for snorting coke off a hookers ass? I mean, I saw it in a movie once, so its gotta be ok, right?[/QUOTE]

Ask some Duke lacrosse players.
 
[quote name='penmyst']You would be receiving stolen goods. That is a criminal offence so yes, you would be arrested.

Ignorance of whether the goods are stolen or legit is also not a defence.

That is pretty much how the law breaks down.[/QUOTE]


It's not possession of stolen goods. It's copyright infringement. A very different thing. It's intellectual property. Definitely there are civil penalties for this but I doubt too many cops would know what to arrest you for.

I found this read it

http://www.cybercrime.gov/CFAleghist.htm
 
Most cops I know of, like in my area, are too busy giving out total BS parking tickets and useless speeding tickets (to people that go no more than 5 over the limit), than to actually deal with real crimes (like the infrequent gun shots I hear a street over from me about every other week).
 
i see bootleg sellers in Times Square all the time........and the cops are like less than 50 feet from them...i thought about buying one just for kicks to see how bad the quality is but i really dont want to get busted.
 
Just don't buy it if it's still in theaters or you'll end up with a horrible camcorder release.

Actually either way it'll probably be really bad quality.

But really, if you buy a professional looking dvd at like a flea market could you really get arrested if it turns out to be a bootleg? It's not like buying crack, crack is crack. A dvd in a case with a cover and everything, I don't see how they could press charges against you and have them hold up.
 
[quote name='Francis']Just don't buy it if it's still in theaters or you'll end up with a horrible camcorder release.

Actually either way it'll probably be really bad quality.

But really, if you buy a professional looking dvd at like a flea market could you really get arrested if it turns out to be a bootleg? It's not like buying crack, crack is crack. A dvd in a case with a cover and everything, I don't see how they could press charges against you and have them hold up.[/QUOTE]

The solution, then, is to start selling crack in professional looking DVD cases.

"Hey man, lemme holla atcha! You want some "Fools Rush In?" I got 3 rocks of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" playa!"
 
[quote name='Francis']Just don't buy it if it's still in theaters or you'll end up with a horrible camcorder release.

Actually either way it'll probably be really bad quality.

But really, if you buy a professional looking dvd at like a flea market could you really get arrested if it turns out to be a bootleg? It's not like buying crack, crack is crack. A dvd in a case with a cover and everything, I don't see how they could press charges against you and have them hold up.[/QUOTE]

This is the same reason why I don't like Sonmay and Ever Anime. They TRY to deceive with how the cd looks. If it looked bootleg that's one thing, if it doesn't that's another, it implies you're DELIBERATELY trying to get a consumer who might buy the LEGIT product to buy yours instead without knowledge HOWEVER this is also why cd companies have started putting up those holograms on the cd's.
Also in the case of Ever Anime I once bought one hoping it wasn't them, unfortunately it turned out to be em' but I couldn't find the legit cd ANYWHERE.
 
[quote name='Francis']But really, if you buy a professional looking dvd at like a flea market could you really get arrested if it turns out to be a bootleg? It's not like buying crack, crack is crack. A dvd in a case with a cover and everything, I don't see how they could press charges against you and have them hold up.[/quote]

Believe me, the charges would hold up. We live in a police state, your word as a citizen doesn't mean squat if a policeman wants you to be convicted. Sure you can take it to a jury of your peers, but people are too conditioned to being afraid to care about the incident from your point of view.

Take this, facing a possible three-year prison sentence, when essentially all she did was put up anti-Bush posters:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2006/05/uppity_clevelan.html
 
Honestly, just Bittorrent it instead. Alot of the time bootlegs are messed up. I actually prefer to just trade my dvds or buy them legally but sometimes I HAVE to download them. But thats like 1 in every 75 films I watch.
 
As other people have said, these bootlegs are very nice quality and almost look like a authentic dvd. They play like a authentic dvd.
 
[quote name='Quackzilla']I have been ripped off by "The Man" so many times that I now buy at least 50% pirated CDs.

I've never been arrested.[/QUOTE]

Why the hell would you buy a pirated CD? If you are set to "stick it to the man" (however dumb this line of reasoning might be), why pay a pirate for what you can download for free?
 
[quote name='Kayden']Next thread: Can I get in throuble for snorting coke off a hookers ass? I mean, I saw it in a movie once, so its gotta be ok, right?[/quote]

I don't know about hookers, but in Cops a dude got arrested for doing coke off a urinal. :D
 
[quote name='Francis']It's not like buying crack, crack is crack. [/QUOTE]
:applause: Brilliant Holmes!




In response to the thread, don't worry about it. AFAIK, most pirating or whatnot busts they do have to do with tracking the IP's of people on filesharing services. Even then, they only take legal action against like .1% of pirates. If they actually hired enough law enforcers to track down 100% of the pirates in the US, the cost would be pretty much equivilent to simply paying the movie/music/game industries for their losses. I figure their strategy is to arrest enough people to scare the others away from pirating. But I don't think it's working :lol:
 
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