Copyright infringement statistics, by most standards, are inflated. Most recent copyright infringement statistics cite that almost 30 percent of software is pirated in the United States of America. This means they think 30 percent of the software on your computer is illegal.

However, copyright holders have good reason to worry that were violating their rules: the number of suspects referred to the United States attorneys with an intellectual property lead increased twenty six percent in the period between 2002 and 2004 -- and this number is rising. Copyright infringement statistics are difficult to come by, but its plain to see its affecting every aspect of intellectual copy.

Copyright infringement statistics show a lot of violations in pirating software and music. Many unsuspecting people, from college students to thirty-something professionals, download music on a consistent basis, and often its not downloaded legally. Often times, someone will download a song off a MySpace or YouTube page, without giving thought to who owns the copyright and if its legal for them to have it.

Copyright infringement statistics, brought to us by the music recording industry, would have us believe that online infringement is seriously hurting the recording industry. Statistics also show that many people are downloading games off the Internet. With the litany of games available to us -- from complete alternate worlds such as World of Warcraft to the more mainstream The Sims series -- people are clamoring for PC games. Theyre fun, intelligent games that play on a system everyone has -- a computer. Because of this, people are always looking for new games to play and download, and they may download a game without knowing that its not freeware (as many Internet games are).

In addition to computer games, copyright infringement statistics also show that movies are downloaded in abundance on the Internet. Many peer to peer file distribution sites and programs (such as Kazaa) allow transferring of large files; plus theyre easy to find online. Using a tool provided by one of many suppliers, users can search for any item they like -- and, of course, the system is abused and people download copyrighted movies and entire DVDs instead of publicly available works.

Copyright infringement also branches into written works, such as articles, books, poems, etc. Many times, a student will copy a paragraph or two without realizing the implications of such copying. While they may think of it as borrowing, if its used on a grander scale, the person could be opening themselves up to a large court fight, especially if its used commercially.

As you can see, copyright infringement statistics show us that many people use copyrighted works illegally. Do your best diligence when using anothers work -- and ask for permission every time you want to use something that you havent created. Chances are, if you just ask the question up front youll save yourself from becoming a copyright infringement statistic and save yourself from a major lawsuit.