Question

The plain view doctrine refers to the power of law enforcement to seize any contraband materials that are in plain view, even if the officers don't have a specific warrent for them. Consider the case when during a warrant house search, the law enforcement officers are looking for evidence of a digital crime involving credit card fraud. While in the house, they find no evidence of credit card fraud or any other crime that involves credit cards. While looking around they found various pirated movies and DVD duplication equipment. Can they seize this equipment and arrest the owners

Answer 1

Answer: Yes, they can seize the equipment and arrest the owners.

Explanation:

Under the plain view doctrine, the law enforcement officers may seize illegal contraband even without a warrant when it's observed in an officer's plain view. The officer must legally be allowed to be there, and the officer must have probable cause to believe that the seized objects relate to criminal activity.

In this scenario, while looking around the house,if they found various pirated movies and DVD duplication equipment, they can seize the equipment and arrest the owners. Piracy is theft. The officers found t pirated movies and DVD duplication equipment. Downloading a film or copying a movie without paying is a breach of copyright.