The authorities prosecute people only for distributing movies without permission online.

There were infamous cases like the one targeting Napster in the nineties.īut don’t panic just yet. You may have heard of infamous cases where regular people were prosecuted for sharing or streaming movies or music online. Whether you are committing a crime will depend on whether you are streaming, downloading or uploading a movie online.

Nowadays, people are less likely to nick VHS tapes than to share files online. Intellectual property law deems that it’s illegal to distribute a movie for profit without due permission of the copyright holder. If you are a nineties kid, you will remember the bright green or ominous red FBI warnings that played before the movie on VHS tapes. Movies are, technically, protected by copyright law. The question is not an easy one to answer right away, but this article will attempt to address the question in the most comprehensive manner possible. Is it actually legal to watch movies online without purchasing it beforehand? If it sounds too good to be true, it sort of is.

While some popular movie streaming options like Prime Video, are perfectly legal, most streaming websites fall into a legally murky arena.Įveryone has been to one of those sites that let anyone stream a movie without paying a cent. People increasingly prefer to watch movies online in the comfort of their homes, rather than go to a theater. Online streaming websites have mushroomed in recent years.

Free and Perfectly Legal Ways to Stream Movies.

Watch free movies online no downloads