Penalties for copyright infringement under the US Copyright Act
By admin in Copyrights and Patents on November 11th, 2009
Copyright infringement may be defined as a violation of the exclusivity rights granted to the owner of a copyright under the US Copyright Act.
Penalties under the Copyright Act include the following:
- The individual accused of infringement pays the damage and profit amounts.
- The law may instruct a payment in the range of $200 to $150,000 for each infringement.
- The individual accused of infringement pays for the attorney and court expenses incurred.
- The Court may issue a warrant barring infringements.
- The Court may restrain the infringed work(s).
- The individual accused of infringement may be penalised with a jail term.
There are some conditions that need to be met in order to say that an infringement has taken place.
- The individual alleging the infringement must have a genuine and valid copyright.
- The individual accused of infringement must be able to access the work in question.
- The alleged infringement must fall outside the exceptions.
Exceptions to the Rule:
The exceptions are outlined here for better understanding.
Face-to-face instruction: It is applicable for nonprofit institutions of education engaging in teaching and learning processes. They are free to display and perform any work in a classroom or similar such environment.
Virtual instruction: It falls under the TEACH (Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization) Act of the Copyright law and is applicable to those registered for a given online course.
Fair use: This exception is used often as it is very broad in its application. There are four factors in this criterion of which atleast two need to be present in order for this exception to be applicable.
- Purpose and character: Use must be for nonprofit, educational or personal reasons.
- Nature of work: Works being used should be factual and unpublished.
- Amount: The amount of work used must be small and not be a very significant part.
- Market effect: Use must be one-time and restricted and the work under consideration must not be a consumable.
If the above stated exceptions are not applicable and the three criteria are met, only then can a copyright infringement be said to have taken place.