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Fatwa CenterBuying Cracked Courses With Copyrights
Question
Salam AlaykoumI want to ask you please what the ruling of Islam for someone who buy cracked courses online. These courses are so expensive sometimes and of course protected by copyrights by their owners.But there is a website who crack them and sell them. I know selling cracked or pirated courses including videos,PDFs,eBooks or whatever is Haram and prohibited by the Islam.but what the Islam says for someone who needs them for his personal use not to sell them or share them with others. First case:what if someone generated an income, after learning the strategies shown in these cracked courses and implement them, like earning money online, or building ecommerce business, is it haram in the islam?second case:what if someone used these cracked courses and after pay for them later when he will collect the price of them?Third case:what if someone used cracked courses that are not exciting in the market, by cheking their selling pages. but they are still downloadable.Otherwise,, what if someone learned from these cracked courses and he passed real examens and got certifications in special degrees, then he worked in the same field of these studies, is his income haram in the islam?These courses are a sort of videos, PDF s, eBooks which the goal is teaching and learning people how to earn money online like selling online, how to build legit business online. sometimes teaching the digital marketing for example,to be an expert in digital marketing and be certified. Usually, the goal of these courses cracked are only showing strategies how to earn money online, and to guarantee legit good income or teaching who are interested in the marketing online to be an expert and certified. God Bless you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
We will summarize our answer to your questions in the following points:
Firstly, it is not permissible to buy stolen property, and it is not permissible to deal with the aggressor because the scholars stated that the person who buys from a usurper, a thief, or an aggressor, is like them [in sin], as long as he knows that they have transgressed the rights of others.
Secondly, it is not permissible to use these programs unless one has obtained them in a legitimate method, such as buying them, or if their owners authorized their use. Otherwise, making use of these programs is a form of aggression against those respected and reserved rights of their owners.
This is the view of Islamic Fiqh Councils and considerable Fatwa committees; they confirmed that intellectual rights belong to their owners and that it prohibited to transgress against them.
Some scholars are of the view that if a person needs to copy them because the original version does not exist, or because one is unable to purchase them, then it becomes permissible for him to copy them for his own personal use only, provided that he does not use them as a means for earning his living, or for trading. Ibn 'Uthaymeen 
said about copying CDs:
“In my view, if a person copies them for his own use only, then this is permissible, but if he copies them for trade, then this is not permissible because this is harmful to others.” [End of quote]
Thirdly, if any person has benefited from such programs and has acquired knowledge and experience, then it is not forbidden for him to work and benefit from what he has learned from these programs. Additionally, this does not affect (the lawfulness of) what he earns from his permissible work. However, according to the view that using these programs unlawfully is considered a transgression, then the transgressor guarantees the benefits that he had caused the owners of the program to miss out on, and the harm he had caused to him. It is the specialized people who would estimate that [the harm].
However, those who consider that it is permissible to copy those programs, and so on, for one’s own personal benefit; they do not consider this act to be a transgression that makes the doer sinful or a guarantor.
This is a summarized answer to what you asked about, and we cannot go into too many details in the issues you mentioned and the assumptions you raised, because we are very busy and this may take the Fatwa out of its proper proportion.
Allah knows best.
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