Editing Warez (section)

==Legality==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2016}}
{{details|Copyright infringement#Legality}}
Generally, there are four elements of criminal copyright infringement: the existence of a valid copyright, that copyright was infringed, the infringement was willful, and the infringement was either substantial, or for commercial gain (at levels often set by [[statute]]).<ref name=Goldman2004>{{cite journal |last1=Goldman |first1=Eric |title=Warez Trading and Criminal Copyright Infringement |journal=Santa Clara University School of Law |date=2004-01-18 |pages=2–5 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/facpubs/185/ |access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{USC | 17 | 506}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loren |first1=Lydia Pallas |title=Digitization, Commodification, Criminalization: The Evolution of Criminal Copyright Infringement and the Importance of the Willfulness Requirement |journal=Washington University Law Review |date=January 1999 |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=866–867 | url=https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1483&context=law_lawreview |access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref> Offering warez is generally understood to be a form of [[copyright infringement]] that is punishable as either a [[Tort|civil wrong]] or a [[criminal law|crime]].<ref name=Goldman2004/>{{rp|page=6}}<ref name = Schwabach1406/>{{rp|page=307}}

Often, sites hosting torrent files claim that they are not breaking any laws because they are not offering the actual data; rather, the sites only offer a link to other places or peers that contain the infringing material.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} However, many prosecution cases and convictions argue to the contrary. For instance, Dimitri Mader, the French national who operates a movie distribution warez site, Wawa-Mania, was fined 20,000 € and sentenced, in absentia, to a year in jail by a European court (after fleeing France for the Philippines), for his role in managing the site.<ref name = AndyTF15>{{cite journal | author = [Maxwell,] Andy | date = 2015-04-11 | title = Sentenced to Jail, Warez Operator Faces $30m Damages Claim | journal = TorrentFreak | url = https://torrentfreak.com/sentenced-to-jail-warez-operator-faces-30m-damages-claim-150410/ | access-date = 26 August 2016}}</ref> In the U.S., through 2004, more than 80 individuals had been prosecuted and convicted for trade in warez products (under the [[NET Act]] and other statutes), for movie and software pirating in particular, with a number of individuals being imprisoned, including some enthusiast traders.<ref name = Schwabach1406/>{{rp|p.308}}<ref>{{cite journal |author=Goldman, Eric |author-link=Eric Goldman |year=2004 |title=Warez Trading and Criminal Copyright Infringement |journal=Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=395–436, esp. 427 |ssrn=487163}} See also, Goldman, Eric (2004-01-07), "Warez Trading and Criminal Copyright Infringement," Working Paper, see [https://ssrn.com/abstract=487163] or [https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.487163].</ref>

However, laws and their application to warez activities may vary greatly from country to country;<ref>{{cite book |last=Eve |first=Martin Paul |url=https://punctumbooks.com/titles/warez-the-infrastructure-and-aesthetics-of-piracy/ |title=Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy |publisher=Punctum Books |year=2021 |access-date=2025-05-08}}</ref> for instance, while Wawa-Mania is under sanction in France, it remains in operation via a host in Moldova, and through use of an Ecuadorian top-level domain.<ref name = AndyTF15/> Hence, while high-profile web hosts and domain providers{{who|date=August 2016}} generally do not permit the hosting of warez, and delete sites found to be hosting them,{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} private endeavours and small commercial entities continue to allow the trade in warez to continue.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} And, in some countries, and at some times, software "piracy" has been encouraged, and international and usual national legal protections ignored.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} A dispute between [[Iran]] and United States over membership in [[WTO]] and subsequent U.S. block of Iran's attempts at full-membership has led Iran to encourage the copying of U.S. software; hence, there has been a subsequent surge in Iranian "warez" and "crackz" websites (as Iranian laws do not forbid [[Iran and copyright issues|hosting them inside Iran]]).{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} The same policy has been adopted by Antigua,{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} and others.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eve |first=Martin Paul |url=https://punctumbooks.com/titles/warez-the-infrastructure-and-aesthetics-of-piracy/ |title=Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy |publisher=Punctum Books |year=2021 |access-date=2025-05-08}}</ref>