Answer Truthfully Now...

[Trev]

And for those who pirate software that is still available "through legal channels" .....Do you have any reservations about shoplifting (other than getting caught)?

At bookstores and newsstands, do you read passages from books, newspapers, or magazines before paying for them? Do you take photographs at modern art museums? Copyright infringement and unlicensed use are not the same as shoplifting, which involves personal property.

EDIT: Re: the poll, it's complicated. Since ownership of licensed software is never actually transferred to the end user, an end user can never own a copy of licensed software. Do I use software I haven't paid for? Yes, I use software daily at work that my employer purchased.

[Trev]

Wrong.  We're talking here about illegally obtaining software for free instead of paying for it.  Your first example is akin to trying out software in a store if that store makes such a kiosk available, correct?  Now if you copy the entire book and walk out of the store with that copy, your example becomes more relevant.

Copyright infringement is not the same as theft of personal property. For now, books, videos, and records still count as personal property. It won't be long before publishers start adding license agreements to books, magazines, and audio and video recordings, though, and they'll no longer be personal property. They'll simply be licensed works. This is why you can transfer ownership of a compact disc but not a downloaded MP3.

The most humorous part about the comparison is that it's meant to scare or guilt people into not copying software; however, the punishment for copying software is several orders of magnitude worse than the punishment for shoplifting. If you want a "free" game, your best bet is to shoplift. Worst case, you'll pay a small fine and have a misdemeanor on your record. If you copy the game, however, you could end up paying $150,000 per copy, spend a few years in jail, get gang raped, and lose your right to vote.

[Trev]

Is there any case where someone copied a single time and had to pay any legal penalty?

Yes, but it's usually done in the form of extortion payments, er, out-of-court settlements. There are thousands of John Doe cases out there where the infringement is limited to a single copy. Most cases are settled out of court.

Let's pretend someone shoplifted 1,000 copies of a $60 Xbox 360 game, and the average fine for shoplifting is $350 (I pulled that out of my ass, but it's a realistic number). Then, let's compare that to seeding a copy to 1,000 leechers:

1,000 * ($60 + $350) = $410,000

1,000 * ($150,000) = $150,000,000

So, it's still a win for shoplifting. (Anyone caught shoplifting 1,000 times is more likely to receive psychiatric counseling than jail time.)

If you happened to steal 1,000 copies in one go, it's not shoplifting. The actual crime depends on the act itself, whether breaking and entering was involved, whether there was the threat of harm, whether weapons were used, whether the target was a protected class, whether it could be considered a hate crime, etc.

The law is complicated, obviously, and any comparison between theft and copyright infringement is both silly and insulting.

[Trev]

I did answer yes as I did install WinXP and MS Office with illegal keys in VirtualBox. I bought this computer with Windows and MS Office installed from my employer and I should have a license via my employer. Don't know if it is allowed to run in virtualisation though.

If they're OEM licenses, they're tied to the hardware and must be transferred. If they're retail licenses, they can optionally be transferred. If they're volume licenses, they cannot be transferred.

Re: virtualization, it depends on the license. The text of all of Microsoft's licenses is available on their web site.