...downloading and uploading copyright files is...

*cough*

...downloading and uploading copyright files without the permission of the copyright owner is...

This is essentially always the case for Music, Videos etc. that people ripped from CD/DVD and whatsoever. They (e.g. 'Music Industry') have never nor will they ever give you the permission to distribute their work!

Some counter-examples: GPL'ed Software, Creative Commons, Weed Share etc. They're all copyrighted and the licenses define the rules under which terms you can redistribute, modify the files.

The GPL is for example based upon strong copyright laws. If somebody violates the terms of the GPL it falls back to the standard copyright and the copyright owners can take steps like sue the 'thug'. Here are some samples: http://gpl-violations.org

FYI: Copyright laws differ from country to country and there's no simple answer. In Germany for example non-copyright work doesn't exist! Each piece of work made by men is copyrighted and the copyright is not transferable (hehe -- I give you the permission to read, modify and quote this message ).