How are copyright laws enforced?
A. The technical status of a copyright is only half the story. In order for a copyright to be enforced there needs to be someone willing to spend time and considerable money to enforce that copyright. It’s not like the government sends out a legal SWAT team any time there is a copyright violation. Most copyright cases take five or six figures in legal fees before they are even brought to court, plus more if they are challenged. Hence only some entity with deep pockets or a massive revenue stream from a copyrighted work could have the wherewithal to engage in a copyright lawsuit. This is why you are much more likely to get sued if you use Winnie the Pooh or Harry Potter without permission, than if you pirate a obscure book from 1931 that is long out of print. In both cases, you are technically in violation of the copyright law. In the former, you will probably get hit by a ton of legal grief. In the latter, the chances that someone would be willing to take you to court are slim to nil.
