Intellectual Property Rights Violations: Federal Civil Remedies and Criminal Penalties Related to Copyrights, Trademarks, and Patents

Brian T. Yeh
Legislative Attorney

This report provides information describing the federal civil remedies and criminal penalties that may be available as a consequence of violations of the federal intellectual property laws: the Copyright Act of 1976, the Patent Act of 1952, and the Trademark Act of 1946 (conventionally known as the Lanham Act). The report explains the remedies and penalties for the following intellectual property offenses:

• 17 U.S.C. § 501 (copyright infringement); 
• 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(A) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(b) (criminal copyright infringement for profit); 
• 17 U.S.C. § 506(1)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(c) (criminal copyright infringement without a profit motive); 
• 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(c) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(d) (pre-release distribution of a copyrighted work over a computer network); 
• 17 U.S.C. § 1309 (infringement of a vessel hull or deck design); 
• 17 U.S.C. § 1326 (falsely marking an unprotected vessel hull or deck design with a protected design notice); 
• 17 U.S.C. §§ 1203, 1204 (circumvention of copyright protection); 
• 18 U.S.C. § 2319A (bootleg recordings of live musical performances); 
• 18 U.S.C. § 2319B (unauthorized recording of motion pictures in movie theaters); 
• 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1) (unauthorized use in commerce of a reproduction, counterfeit, or colorable imitation of a federally registered trademark); 
• 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (trademark infringement due to false designation, origin, or sponsorship); 
• 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c) (dilution of famous trademarks); 
• 15 U.S.C. §§ 1125(d) and 1129 (cybersquatting and cyberpiracy in connection with Internet domain names); 
• 18 U.S.C. § 2318 (counterfeit/illicit labels and counterfeit documentation and packaging for copyrighted works); 
• 35 U.S.C. § 271 (patent infringement); 
• 35 U.S.C. § 289 (infringement of a design patent); 
• 35 U.S.C. § 292 (false marking of patent-related information in connection with articles sold to the public); 
• 28 U.S.C. § 1498 (unauthorized use of a patented invention by or for the United States, or copyright infringement by the United States); 
• 19 U.S.C. § 1337 (unfair practices in import trade); 
• 18 U.S.C. § 2320 (trafficking in counterfeit trademarks);
• 19 U.S.C. § 1526(e), 15 U.S.C. § 1124 (importing merchandise bearing counterfeit marks),18 U.S.C. § 2320(h) (transshipment and exportation of counterfeit goods); 
• 18 U.S.C. § 1831 (trade secret theft to benefit a foreign entity); and 
• 18 U.S.C. § 1832 (theft of trade secrets for commercial advantage).

Date of Report: March 7, 2013
Number of Pages: 23
Order Number: RL34109
Price: $29.95

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