Chapter 113, Section 2318, Subsection (e) · 18 U.S.C. Chapter 113

Contents

(e)

(1)Any copyright owner who is injured, or is threatened with injury, by a violation of subsection (a) may bring a civil action in an appropriate United States district court.

(2)In any action brought under paragraph (1), the court—

(A)may grant 1 or more temporary or permanent injunctions on such terms as the court determines to be reasonable to prevent or restrain a violation of subsection (a);

(B)at any time while the action is pending, may order the impounding, on such terms as the court determines to be reasonable, of any article that is in the custody or control of the alleged violator and that the court has reasonable cause to believe was involved in a violation of subsection (a); and

(C)may award to the injured party—

(i)reasonable attorney fees and costs; and

(ii)

(I)actual damages and any additional profits of the violator, as provided in paragraph (3); or

(II)statutory damages, as provided in paragraph (4).

(3)

(A)The injured party is entitled to recover—

(i)the actual damages suffered by the injured party as a result of a violation of subsection (a), as provided in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph; and

(ii)any profits of the violator that are attributable to a violation of subsection (a) and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages.

(B)The court shall calculate actual damages by multiplying—

(i)the value of the phonorecords, copies, or works of visual art which are, or are intended to be, affixed with, enclosed in, or accompanied by any counterfeit labels, illicit labels, or counterfeit documentation or packaging, by

(ii)the number of phonorecords, copies, or works of visual art which are, or are intended to be, affixed with, enclosed in, or accompanied by any counterfeit labels, illicit labels, or counterfeit documentation or packaging.

(C)For purposes of this paragraph, the “value” of a phonorecord, copy, or work of visual art is—

(i)in the case of a copyrighted sound recording or copyrighted musical work, the retail value of an authorized phonorecord of that sound recording or musical work;

(ii)in the case of a copyrighted computer program, the retail value of an authorized copy of that computer program;

(iii)in the case of a copyrighted motion picture or other audiovisual work, the retail value of an authorized copy of that motion picture or audiovisual work;

(iv)in the case of a copyrighted literary work, the retail value of an authorized copy of that literary work;

(v)in the case of a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, the retail value of an authorized copy of that work; and

(vi)in the case of a work of visual art, the retail value of that work.

(4)The injured party may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for each violation of subsection (a) in a sum of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000, as the court considers appropriate.

(5)The court may increase an award of damages under this subsection by 3 times the amount that would otherwise be awarded, as the court considers appropriate, if the court finds that a person has subsequently violated subsection (a) within 3 years after a final judgment was entered against that person for a violation of that subsection.

(6)A civil action may not be commenced under this subsection unless it is commenced within 3 years after the date on which the claimant discovers the violation of subsection (a).

United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Defined terms · 25

Show every defined term

Aircraft
means any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used, or designed for navigation of or for flight in the air;
audiovisual recording device
means a digital or analog photographic or video camera, or any other technology or device capable of enabling the recording or transmission of a copyrighted motion picture or other audiovisual work, or any part thereof, regardless of whether audiovisual recording is the sole or primary purpose of the device.
Cattle
means one or more bulls, steers, oxen, cows, heifers, or calves, or the carcass or carcasses thereof;
chop shop
means any building, lot, facility, or other structure or premise where one or more persons engage in receiving, concealing, destroying, disassembling, dismantling, reassembling, or storing any passenger motor vehicle or passenger motor vehicle part which has been unlawfully obtained in order to alter, counterfeit, deface, destroy, disguise, falsify, forge, obliterate, or remove the identity, including the vehicle identification number or derivative thereof, of such vehicle or vehicle part and to distribute, sell, or dispose of such vehicle or vehicle part in interstate or foreign commerce.
counterfeit documentation or packaging
means documentation or packaging that appears to be genuine, but is not.
counterfeit label
means an identifying label or container that appears to be genuine, but is not;
counterfeit mark
means— but such term does not include any mark or designation used in connection with goods or services, or a mark or designation applied to labels, patches, stickers, wrappers, badges, emblems, medallions, charms, boxes, containers, cans, cases, hangtags, documentation, or packaging of any type or nature used in connection with such goods or services, of which the manufacturer or producer was, at the time of the manufacture or production in question, authorized to use the mark or designation for the type of goods or services so manufactured or produced, by the holder of the right to use such mark or designation;
counterfeit military good or service
means a good or service that uses a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such good or service and that—
digital transmission service
means a service that has the primary purpose of publicly performing works by digital transmission;
documentation or packaging
means documentation or packaging, in physical form, for a phonorecord, copy of a computer program, copy of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, copy of a literary work, copy of a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, or work of visual art;
drug
means a drug, as defined in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).
financial gain
includes the receipt, or expected receipt, of anything of value;
illicit label
means a genuine certificate, licensing document, registration card, or similar labeling component—
Lanham Act
means the Act entitled “An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes”, approved July 5, 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.);
Livestock
means any domestic animals raised for home use, consumption, or profit, such as horses, pigs, llamas, goats, fowl, sheep, buffalo, and cattle, or the carcasses thereof;
Money
means the legal tender of the United States or of any foreign country, or any counterfeit thereof;
Motor vehicle
includes an automobile, automobile truck, automobile wagon, motorcycle, or any other self-propelled vehicle designed for running on land but not on rails;
Securities
includes any note, stock certificate, bond, debenture, check, draft, warrant, traveler’s check, letter of credit, warehouse receipt, negotiable bill of lading, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate;
State
includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
Tax stamp
includes any tax stamp, tax token, tax meter imprint, or any other form of evidence of an obligation running to a State, or evidence of the discharge thereof;
traffic
has the same meaning as in section 2320(f) of this title;
Value
means the face, par, or market value, whichever is the greatest, and the aggregate value of all goods, wares, and merchandise, securities, and money referred to in a single indictment shall constitute the value thereof.
Vessel
means any watercraft or other contrivance used or designed for transportation or navigation on, under, or immediately above, water.
work being prepared for commercial distribution
has the meaning given the term in section 506(a) of title 17.
work being prepared for commercial public performance
means—