Please tell me the elements of violating the Copyright Act, such as illegally downloading movies.

Hello. This is a Busan criminal defense attorney.

You said that you downloaded ‘Squid Game Season 2’ through an illegal torrent site.

This constitutes copying and storing the work without the copyright holder's consent, and may amount to a violation of the Copyright Act.

In particular, downloading using a torrent program does not stop at mere storage; because it has a structure in which the file is automatically uploaded (distributed) to other users at the same time as it is downloaded, it can lead to criminal punishment as an infringement of the public transmission right.

According to Article 136 of the Copyright Act, a person who infringes the rights of a copyright holder may be subject to imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than 50 million won, and in some cases both may be imposed concurrently.

In addition, the copyright holder may claim damages (through civil litigation), which can create a financial burden as well (Article 125 of the Copyright Act).

Even if you simply watched the movie and deleted it, if there is a history of it being automatically transmitted to others during the torrent download process, criminal punishment is possible, so caution is needed.

From now on, you should use legal streaming or download channels.

If you receive a notice for a police investigation for a violation of the Copyright Act, you may wish to promptly seek legal assistance from a Busan criminal defense attorney.