Over the life of this blog, the article that has racked up the most hits is one about an adult movie streaming service suing Amazon for trademark infringement. From looking at what lead people to this article, it appears some people think our blog is streaming adult content (we always try to keep it on a G level, folks) but, more importantly, people want to know whether streaming of any kind of movies online will get you arrested or sued…we will tackle that question today.

I have been informed that there are websites that permit people to view streaming adult content; sort of like YouTube for adventurous viewers. Whether it is adult sites or any site, such as YouTube, that streams video the rules are the same. First we will discuss what copyright infringement entails.

Under Section 501 of the Copyright Act, anyone can be held liable for civil copyright infringement for violating any of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights to a work. The relevant exclusive rights are the right of reproduction, distribution of copies, and public performance. The possible monetary penalties include actual damages or statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work infringed plus recovery of costs including attorneys’ fees.

Second, under 18 USC § 2319 and 17 USC § 506, criminal liability can be assessed against anyone who willfully infringes a copyright owner’s work for the purpose of commercial advantage or financial gain; or distribution over a 180 day period that has a total retail value of more than $1,000; or distribution of a work being prepared and made it available on a computer accessible to the public (the leak of a movie). The penalties go up to 10 years in prison and a fine.

So what can you do and can’t you do? Remember this applies to not only adult content but any online videos:

Watch streamed content online in the privacy of your home? Go ahead. It is not infringement to watch a video as long as it does not make a copy on your hard drive, have fun. Show streamed content to the public? Stop . This is a public performance and infringement so keep it private…please. Download a copy of the video onto your computer? Stop . This is creating an unauthorized copy. Upload someone else’s video to a streaming website? Yield . This is infringement but it may be considered Fair Use. So maybe a minute of a movie may be okay but not the whole movie. Better not to do this and avoid the hassle…and attorneys’ fees. Upload your video to a streaming site. Go ahead . It made Paris and Kim famous but get consent if there are other people in the video. Share a link of a pirated video. Stop . This could be considered contributory infringement so best to avoid. Gawker got sued recently by Quentin Tarantino for sharing links to leaks of a script to a new movie.

So next time you think of doing anything with streamed content, just remember these helpful hints.