Shit, Help! Charged with file sharing.. admission withdrawn? Forum

[beef wellington]

Can't believe I'm the first to call flame.

[ScaredWorkedBored]

Do you mean charged or sued? As in did the USAO actually charge you with criminal copyright infringement? That's a federal felony, which is going to have MAJOR implications on your life and your bar admission. Legal term for this is Very. Big. Deal.

Obviously a new criminal charge of any nature has to be disclosed immediately.

This. Since OP said "charged" I'm assuming criminal charges, but it could be a civil lawsuit. It does matter which, OP.

That's what's weird. Criminal charges normally only come down for people who do stuff like steal workprints from studios and put them online. Your standard torrents will *only* get you sued.

This is what the crim faculty in law school talk about as prosecutorial discretion. The actual federal law lets them ring up pretty much anyone who's ever been more than a token distributor, even without a profit motive. The threshold is $1000 worth, IIRC, which is obviously going to be blown through when you start counting files.

Copyright law's actually a fascinating topic for people who want to compare the law in action to what the civil and criminal statutes actually allow.

[Mr. Pablo]

Do you mean charged or sued? As in did the USAO actually charge you with criminal copyright infringement? That's a federal felony, which is going to have MAJOR implications on your life and your bar admission. Legal term for this is Very. Big. Deal.

Obviously a new criminal charge of any nature has to be disclosed immediately.

This. Since OP said "charged" I'm assuming criminal charges, but it could be a civil lawsuit. It does matter which, OP.

That's what's weird. Criminal charges normally only come down for people who do stuff like steal workprints from studios and put them online. Your standard torrents will *only* get you sued.

This is what the crim faculty in law school talk about as prosecutorial discretion. The actual federal law lets them ring up pretty much anyone who's ever been more than a token distributor, even without a profit motive. The threshold is $1000 worth, IIRC, which is obviously going to be blown through when you start counting files.

Copyright law's actually a fascinating topic for people who want to compare the law in action to what the civil and criminal statutes actually allow.

This issue is actually one of the reasons I'm going to law school; I've been infringed upon. It is actually some pretty interesting stuff.

[Anonymous User]

So civil issues don't need to be reported?

I recently got a ticket for a civil violation (open container), is this something I need to report to the law school I will be attending? Nothing in the application seems to require you to report anything that happens after sending in the application/being admitted..

[MC Southstar]

Can't believe I'm the first to call flame.

I'm in this man's camp.

[tesoro]

So civil issues don't need to be reported?

I recently got a ticket for a civil violation (open container), is this something I need to report to the law school I will be attending? Nothing in the application seems to require you to report anything that happens after sending in the application/being admitted..

There's a paragraph where you sign/certify on every application that says you promise to notify the school immediately if the answer to any of the questions asks changes up until the day you matriculate.

That being said, the only application I can recall that specifically asked if you had a violation (as opposed to a crime) was NYU. So you may not need to report it. Double check what your app questions exactly asked of you and act accordingly.