Warez are
copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of
copyright law. Warez are generally unauthorized releases by organized groups, as opposed to
file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar interest using a
darknet. Warez are not usually commercial software counterfeiting.
Warez was initially coined by members of the various computer underground circles, but has since become commonplace among
Internet users and the
mass media.
