Kevin Gowen wrote:

> Copyright infringement is against the law, but it is not larceny.

Can people successfully sue for the full financial damages, such as all the
money the pirates made off the product, or all the money that would have
been made had the company sold the same number of units at full price?

> The Supreme Court has been very clear on this. If Congress wanted
> copyright
> infringement to be theft, they would have written the statute that way.
>
> >>I see no reason not to say "all knowledge or ignorance is
> >>willful". Nice WestLaw-ing, though.
> >
> > Ignorance is an acceptable excuse?
>
> Sometimes. Mistake of law is not an excuse ("I didn't know it was
> against the law") but mistake of fact sometimes is. For example, while
> leaving a restaurant on a rainy day, you take someone else's umbrella
> out of the umbrella rack while honestly believing it to be your own. You
> have not committed larceny.

BTW, what does happen when a person is caught knowingly receiving stolen
property, such as buying a TV out of the trunk of someone's car?