The difference is in the user's intent. Willful infringement means the user planned and intended to violate copyright.
Generally a person watching an infringing video on YouTube would be infringing, but a person systematically ripping and uploading thousands of DVDs to a file sharing service would be willfully infringing.
Innocent infringement is a violation of copyright without willful intent. Accidentally moving an mp3 onto a shared drive would be innocent infringement.
The judges concluded that he had committed the willful murder of the innocent girl.
The Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Act
Current copyright law doesn't have a reasonable balance between the rights of owners and the public good. No provision is made to deal with orphan works, which are becoming increasingly common. Using the fair use defense against infringement charges is a "guilty until proven innocent" situation; fair use should be the assumption, and the onus should be on the owner to prove infringement. Although "willful" infringement is more serious on paper, in practice little or no distinction is made between casual, accidental infringement and intentional, institution, wholesale infringement. Because technological advances have the ability to change the environment so utterly, a complete review of the law should happen every 5 years at a minimum. Most countries are using laws that never anticipated the internet, and trying to apply the same rules to physical and digital materials.
Civil damages of up to $150,000 in damages per infringement. Criminal penalties include fines and imprisonment up to 5 years; 10 if a repeat offense.
It varies from country to country; in the US, the maximum jail time is 5 years.
Copyright infringement is primarily a civil offense however there are options to prosecute criminally in the case of "willful and deliberate" acts of infringement. Ignorance of the existence of copyright is not a viable defense to infringement. If an author is convicted of copyright infringement the publisher can be held liable for contributory infringement if it can be shown that they had knowledge of the infringement prior to publication. If, by a preponderance of the evidence, infringement can be shown then yes a damages award to the copyright holder can be granted.
Many types of willful infringement of copyright are felonies, under US copyright law. 18 USC § 2319 lists the penalties for various violations, including felonies and misdemeanor copyright crimes. These penalties are in addition to any civil damages or injunction for infringement, which may be claimed by a copyright owner through a lawsuit.
Remedies for patent infringement vary from country to country. In the US, a patent owner generally receives the larger of either a "reasonable royalty" or lost profits. In the case of willful infringement, where the infringement is found to be deliberate, damages may be awarded up to three times actual damages.
Under current US copyright law the maximum "standard" fine for "willful and deliberate" copyright infringement can be as high as $150,000.00 USD.
The party being infringed on would probably just send a cease and desist notice, unless the infringement was willful and particularly severe.
The line between right and wrong starts with submission and pride. It ends with respecting the rights of others & willful disobedience to authority. Any thing else will support these points in the middle.