body: As I understand copyright is something that is inherent in creative work, as in, if you painted a picture you automatically "own" the copyright to it without having to do anything extra. 
  
  
  Say I have a bunch of pictures that I know are painted by someone else. I want to make copies of them and sell them without telling the painter. Let's also say that the person who owns the pictures doesn't care about how they are used and whether someone's profiting from them, and hence doesn't do anything about it. 
  
  
  Is the act of making profit still automatically illegal in this case, or does it become illegal when the copyright owner tries to sue me? In other words, can I get arrested for the fact itself without anyone making an explicit claim? Can someone else make a complaint ("I know a guy who really painted that pictures!") that could get me arrested?
  
  
  For context, there is an exhibition of Banksy works in Moscow, which apparently was organised without Banksy's consent. Trying to understand the law behind such exhibitions.
  
  
  Thanks.
  
  
  
title: Making profit of copyrighted material - when exactly does it become illegal