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82 Or. L. Rev. 369 (2003)
A Road to No Warez: The No Electronic Theft Act and Criminal Copyright Infringement

handle is hein.journals/orglr82 and id is 379 raw text is: ERIC GOLDMAN*

A Road to No Warez: The No
Electronic Theft Act and Criminal
Copyright Infringement
n the second half of the 1990s, copyright owners repeatedly
sought Congress's help addressing the challenges posed by the
Internet and other new technologies. Congress responded with a
suite of new protections, including restrictions against circumven-
tion,1 longer copyright terms,2 increased statutory damages,3 and
criminalization of willful non-commercial infringement.
This Article examines the latter of those changes, effectuated
through the No Electronic Theft Act4 (the Act or the NET
Act). The Act represents a significant change to copyright law
be cause it subtly shifts the paradigm underlying criminal copy-
right infringement. For 100 years, criminal infringement pun-
ished infringers who derived a commercial benefit based on
someone else's copyrighted work. However, through the Act,
* Eric Goldman (eric.goldman@marquette.edu) is an Assistant Professor at Mar-
quette University Law School in Milwaukee, WI. His personal home page is at
http://eric__goldman.tripod.com. Julia Alpert Gladstone, a legal studies professor at
Bryant College in Smithfield, RI, played a key role during the preparation of this
Article, and the author extends special thanks to her. The author also thanks Orin
Kerr, Lydia Pallas Loren, and Michael O'Hear for helpful comments and Theodore
Potter and Camilla Tubbs for their research assistance. This Article originated from
a project by the Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Cyberspace Law Committee,
Business Law Section, American Bar Association.
1 See Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860
(1998), available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/useftp.cgi?Paddress=162.
140.64.21&filename=pub1304.pdf&directory=/diskc/wais/data/lO5_congpubliclaws
(the DMCA).
2 See Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Pub. L. No. 105-298, 112 Stat.
2827 (1998), available at http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/s505.pdf.
3 See Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of
1999, Pub. L. No. 106-160, 113 Stat. 1774 (1999), available at http://thomas.loc.gov/
cgi-bin/query/z?c106:H.R.3456.ENR.
4 No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, Pub. L. No. 105-147, 111 Stat. 2678 (1997),
available at http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/17-18red.htm.

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