Copyright Law says that:

If without permission you make or authorise someone else to make a copy of something that is not yours, you are breaching copyright law.

This means that under Copyright Law:

• Downloading a file on your desktop over the Internet qualifies as making a copy. Uploading information to a Web server is also deemed to be making a copy.
• Generally the law that applies is that of the land in which the copy is made.
• Therefore if you download a file from a US Web site whilst at your home in Christchurch, New Zealand copyright law will be enforced, and vice versa.
• If you don’t own the copyright to material on your site (eg: images or text) or if you don’t own the copyright in a certain part of the world, you may run into some problems. Check with the copyright holder as best you can, if you think there may be a copyright issue. Many copyright holders can be contacted by email and will allow you to use material as long as you stress that the material will not be used for commercial purposes.