Illegal is generally taken to mean a violation of criminal law, which piracy is not.
^This. Thank you. Piracy is not "illegal". A police officer can be sitting in your room watching you do it, and he can do nothing about it. When you are sued by the MPAA and RIAA, it is a private suit, by a private company claiming that you infringed on their copyright. That is no more illegal that if you get sued for slander or libel. What you did is not illegal, there may just be repercussions.
Now it is illegal in many places to film a movie in a theater. You can get arrested for that and you can get jail time. Neither of which can happen to you if you just torrent that same film.