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Cyber crime and IP theft

Short answer

Cyber crime is illegal activity using computers or networks as tool, target, or place, e.g., hacking, phishing, identity theft, prosecuted under Nepal's Electronic Transactions Act. Theft of intellectual property rights involves unauthorized copying or use of copyrights, patents, trade secrets; forms include software piracy, trade secret theft, and trademark counterfeiting. Cases: Napster shut down for music copyright infringement; The Pirate Bay convicted for enabling piracy.

How do you define cyber crime and theft of intellectual property rights? Discuss with suitable cases.

Cyber crime

Cyber crime is any illegal activity that uses a computer, network or the Internet as a tool, target or place of crime. In Nepal it is covered by the Electronic Transactions Act, 2063 (2008), which defines offences such as unauthorized access, damage to computer systems, publishing illegal material, and computer fraud.

Types: hacking, phishing, identity theft, online banking and credit card fraud, ransomware, cyber bullying and stalking, spreading malware, DoS attacks, publishing obscene or defamatory material.

Cases: a person who hacks a bank account and transfers money; fake emails collecting banking passwords; in Nepal, ATM card skimming and social media account fraud have been prosecuted under the Act.

Theft of intellectual property rights

Intellectual property (IP) includes copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets and designs. IP theft is the unauthorized copying, use, distribution or sale of protected work.

Forms:

  • Software piracy - illegal copying and use of licensed software.
  • Copyright infringement - sharing movies, music, e-books by torrents.
  • Trade secret theft - stealing source code or designs by employees or hackers.
  • Trademark counterfeiting - fake brand websites and products.
  • Plagiarism of content and patent violation.

Cases: Napster was shut down by court order (2001) for enabling music copyright infringement, and the founders of The Pirate Bay were convicted in Sweden (2009); Oracle v. Google was a long dispute over the copying of Java APIs, which the US Supreme Court finally decided in Google's favour as fair use (2021); employees leaving with company source code have been sued for trade secret theft.

Legal protection in Nepal: Copyright Act 2059 (2002), Patent, Design and Trademark Act 2022 (1965), and the Electronic Transactions Act. Prevention includes licensing, DRM, access control and awareness.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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