1. Robbery, kidnapping, or other criminal violence committed at sea. [Cases: Criminal Law 45.50.]
2. A similar crime committed aboard a plane or other vehicle; hijacking. [Cases: Aviation 16. C.J.S. Aeronautics and Aerospace §§ 284–285, 287.]
air piracy. The crime of using force or threat to seize control of an aircraft; the hijacking of an aircraft, esp. one in flight.
— Also termed aircraft piracy. [Cases: Aviation 16. C.J.S. Aeronautics and Aerospace §§ 284–285, 287.]
3. The unauthorized and illegal reproduction or distribution of materials protected by copyright, patent, or trademark law. See INFRINGEMENT. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 53; Patents 226; Trade Regulation 332. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property §§ 10, 41, 61, 73; Patents §§ 400, 404, 406–407; Trade-Marks, Trade-Names, and Unfair Competition § 72.] — pirate, vb. — piratical (pI-rat-[schwa]-k[ schwa]l), adj. — pirate, n. “[T]he test of piracy [is] not whether the identical language, the same words, are used, but whether the substance of the production is unlawfully appropriated.” Eaton S. Drone, A Treatise on the Law of Property in Intellectual Productions 97 (1879).
“[I]n some countries the problem is what might be called the ‘cycle of piracy’ — legitimate copyright owners refuse to sell in the country because of the piracy problem, which means that the only way the public can obtain the goods it wants is to turn to piracy. This in turn only strengthens the resolve of copyright owners not to do business in the country.” Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age 514 (Robert P. Merges et al. eds., 1997).
video piracy. The illegal copying and sale or rental of copyrighted motion pictures.
