Welcome to Pima Community College (PCC) Copyright and Intellectual Property Guide!
You will find many resources in this guide such as:
Please explore this guide, clicking through the tabs at the top.
If you have any questions, or suggestions for additional information to be added to this guide, please contact the copyright committee at: copyrightinfo@pima.edu
Re: Copyright Infringement: Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
To: All Students
Pima Community College would like to remind all students that unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material constitutes infringement and may subject the students to civil and criminal liabilities. In the file-sharing context, this includes downloading or uploading copyrighted files without authority via file-sharing programs, such as BitTorrent, UTorrent, etc.
Individuals who violate copyright law by illegally uploading and downloading copyrighted files may be subject to civil penalties of between $750 and $150,000 per song. These penalties are established by federal law. In addition, a court may, in its discretion, grant the copyright owner reasonable attorneys' fees.
Intentional copyright infringement may also result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment of up to five years and fines of up to $250,000 per offense.
In addition to potentially violating the law, unauthorized distribution or receipt of copyrighted material is a violation of PCC Student Code of Conduct (https://www.pima.edu/current-students/code-of-conduct/docs/Student-Code-of-Conduct.pdf) and Acceptable Use of IT Resources (https://www.pima.edu/privacy-policy/docs/Acceptable-Use.pdf) policy, agreed to by all network users before being granted an account. [That policy requires all network users to comply with copyright law. It also provides that "Illegally downloading copyrighted material, or violating any license agreement or intellectual property rights in any way" constitutes a violation of the policy].
Students who engage in unauthorized file sharing using the College information technology system are subject to disciplinary actions, including [termination of network access for multiple violations].
For more information, including the list of alternative legal media services available on internet, visit the PCC Library Copyright Resources page (https://www.pima.edu/current-students/library/copyright-resources.html).