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Comment by charcircuit | Hacker News Reader

Pretty much only 3 things can happen if you violate someone's software copyright and are sued for it.

- You could have to stop violating the person's copyright.

- You could have to pay damages

- You could have to go to jail

Example: Lets say Lindows is a piece of software whose license only lets you distribute it in Louisiana. If you start distributing it in California and get sued you don't have to do something like transport all your clients to Louisiana and distribute the software to them a second time. You just will be prevented from doing any further distribution in California.

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A 4th option is to reach a settlement with the author agreeing to something else in lieu of the statutory punishments. This has been used to get source code released and bring the infringer into compliance.

I'm not a lawyer, but isn't that what "Specific performance" is?

"Specific performance is an equitable remedy in the law of contract, whereby a court issues an order requiring a party to perform a specific act, such as to complete performance of the contract."[1]

I understand that you are saying that it does not apply in copyright case, but why?

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_performance

Don't you still have to pay damages and maybe you have to do the time

> maybe you have to do the time

The only time anyone ever "do[es] time" is in criminal matters. Copyright infringement is a civil matter, and, in general, the only remedy the courts can provide is monetary. However, refusing to abide by the courts' orders can land you in contempt of court, which could (won't always) involve jail.

My understanding is that in the United States of America copyright law is bith a matter of civil law and criminal law, as the tragic case of mr Aaron Swartz, that was threatened with fines of up to $100k & 10 years of jail for each copyright infringement violation.

I do believe that the US law is Draconian, but you can't say "oh Swartz! yeah just a guy, let's bully him to oblivion with hundreds of years of jail time and million on fines" while at the same time say "Oh John Deere, that's a corporation, please follow the licensing of the software you use". It doesn't seem right to me.

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