If I steal property then it should be a civil issue only?
The federal government prosecutes people all the time civilly. Companies, for example, are rarely prosecuted criminally, even though they may break untold numbers of US laws. Why? Because those laws only prescribe civil penalties.
More importantly, we're $15T in debt, rising $100B every month. Priorities matter. Our federal prisons are dangerously overcrowded to such a degree that violent offenders are frequently released before their sentences are complete.
The federal government could have walked into federal court, obtained an immediate injunction and moved at their leisure to prosecute this man civilly. Instead, they took who knows how many armed, federal agents and other resources to perp-walk this guy into custody.
These are intellectual property laws - they should be prosecuted intellectually.
Correction of my reply:
If you steal their property instead of making copies of it, the deed should be prosecuted criminally. I agree with our forefathers on the issue.
As the law is now, a criminal can steal a rancher’s gate, pay less than $300 in total costs and have his misdemeanor record falsified to avoid detection. In other words, we have more serious problems than the civil complaints of arteests.