Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement.
An advertisement for copyright and patent preparation services from 1906, when copyright registration formalities were still required in the US
Pirated edition of German philosopher Alfred Schmidt (Amsterdam, c. 1970)
Demonstration in Sweden in support of file sharing, 2006
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value than the real thing. Counterfeit products are fakes or unauthorized replicas of the real product. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product. The word counterfeit frequently describes both the forgeries of currency and documents as well as the imitations of items such as clothing, handbags, shoes, pharmaceuticals, automobile parts, unapproved aircraft parts, watches, electronics and electronic parts, software, works of art, toys, and movies.
Counterfeit t-shirts at a flea market.
Counterfeit Brazilian real banknotes
U.S. CBP Office of Field Operations agent checking the authenticity of a travel document at an international airport using a stereo microscope
Bulk bag of counterfeit Viagra