Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Law - Media, Multimedia Law, Copyright, grade: A, New York University School of Law, language: English, abstract: Copyright infringement or what is termed as copyright violation is use of any material that is covered by copyright law in an unlawful manner whereby violating the rights of the copyright owner. Such rights include the right to reproduce the copyrighted work. In regard to audio-visual material, unlawful reproduction as well as distribution of these materials is mainly known as piracy. Copyright infringement is both unlawful and unethical therefore it is a prosecutable crime. This paper give a brief examination of copyright law and provides an account of how legal action can be taken if a person infringes the copyrights of an owner. The paper as well looks at the ethical aspect of copyright before giving a conclusion.