U.S.A. Copyright Law, Library of Congress. Copyright Office [reading diary TXT] 📗

be

within the discretion of the court.

(d) The effective date of a copyright registration is the day on which

an application, deposit, and fee, which are later determined by the

Register of Copyrights or by a court of competent jurisdiction to be

acceptable for registration, have all been received in the Copyright

Office.

Section 411. Registration and infringement actions [10]

(a) Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of the

author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of

subsection (b), no action for infringement of the copyright in any

United States work shall be instituted until registration of the

copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title. In any

case, however, where the deposit, application, and fee required for

registration have been delivered to the Copyright Office in proper form

and registration has been refused, the applicant is entitled to

institute an action for infringement if notice thereof, with a copy of

the complaint, is served on the Register of Copyrights. The Register

may, at his or her option, become a party to the action with respect to

the issue of registrability of the copyright claim by entering an

appearance within sixty days after such service, but the Register's

failure to become a party shall not deprive the court of jurisdiction to

determine that issue.

(b) In the case of a work consisting of sounds, images, or both, the

first fixation of which is made simultaneously with its transmission,

the copyright owner may, either before or after such fixation takes

place, institute an action for infringement under section 501, fully

subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and

sections 509 and 510, if, in accordance with requirements that the

Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation, the copyright

owner-

(1) serves notice upon the infringer, not less than 48 hours before such

fixation, identifying the work and the specific time and source of its

first transmission, and declaring an intention to secure copyright in

the work; and

(2) makes registration for the work, if required by subsection (a),

within three months after its first transmission.

Section 412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for

infringement [11]

In any action under this title, other than an action brought for a

violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a) or an action

instituted under section 411(b), no award of statutory damages or of

attorney's fees, as provided by sections 504 and 505, shall be made for

(1) any infringement of copyright in an unpublished work commenced

before the effective date of its registration; or

(2) any infringement of copyright commenced after first publication of

the work and before the effective date of its registration, unless such

registration is made within three months after the first publication of

the work.

Chapter 4 Endnotes

1 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 401

as follows: 1) in subsection (a), by changing the heading to "General

Provisions" and by inserting "may be placed on" in lieu of "shall be

placed on all"; 2) in subsection (b), by inserting "If a notice appears

on the copies, it" in lieu of "The notice appearing on the copies"; and

3) by adding subsection (d). Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2857.

2 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 402

as follows: 1) in subsection (a), by changing the heading to "General

Provisions" and by inserting "may be placed on" in lieu of "shall be

placed on all"; 2) in subsection (b), by inserting "If a notice appears

on the phonorecords, it" in lieu of "The notice appearing on the

phonorecords"; and 3) by adding subsection (d). Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102

Stat. 2853, 2857.

3 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 403

in its entirety. Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2858.

4 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 404

as follows: 1) in the second sentence of subsection (a), by inserting

"to invoke the provisions of section 401(d) or 402(d), as applicable" in

lieu of "to satisfy the requirements of sections 401 through 403" and 2)

in subsection (b), by inserting "With respect to copies and phonorecords

publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the

effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988," at

the beginning of the sentence. Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853,

2858.

5 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 405

as follows: 1) in subsection (a), by inserting "With respect to copies

and phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright

owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation

Act of 1988, the omission of the copyright notice described in" at the

beginning of the first sentence, in lieu of "The omission of the

copyright notice prescribed by"; 2) in subsection (b), by inserting

after "omitted," in the first sentence, "and which was publicly

distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the effective

date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988"; and 3) by

amending the section heading to add "on certain copies and phonorecords"

at the end thereof. Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2858.

6 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 406

as follows: 1) in subsection (a), by inserting "With respect to copies

and phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright

owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation

Act of 1988," at the beginning of the first sentence; 2) in subsection

(b), by inserting "before the effective date of the Berne Convention

Implementation Act of 1988" after "distributed"; 3) in subsection (c),

by inserting "before the effective date of the Berne Convention

Implementation Act of 1988" after "publicly distributed" and by

inserting "as in effect on the day before the effective date of the

Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988" after "405"; and 4) by

amending the section heading to add "on certain copies and phonorecords"

at the end thereof. Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2858.

7 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 407 by

striking out the words "with notice of copyright" in subsection (a).

Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2859.

8 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 408 by

deleting "Subject to the provisions of section 405(a)," at the beginning

of the second sentence of subsection (a). Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102 Stat.

2853, 2859. That Act also amended section 408(c)(2) by inserting "the

following conditions:" in lieu of "all of the following conditions" and

by striking subparagraph (A) and by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and

(C) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively. Id.

The Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 amended section 408 by revising the

first sentence of subsection (a), preceding the words "the owner of

copyright or of any exclusive right." Pub. L. No. 102-307, 106 Stat.

264, 266.

9 The Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 amended section 409 by adding the

last sentence. Pub. L. No. 102-307, 106 Stat. 264, 266.

10 The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 amended section 411 as

follows: 1) in subsection (a), by inserting "Except for actions for

infringement of copyright in Berne Convention works whose country of

origin is not the United States, and" before "subject"; 2) in paragraph

(b)(2), by inserting ", if required by subsection (a)," after "work";

and 3) by inserting "and infringement actions" in the heading, in lieu

of "as prerequisite to infringement suit." Pub. L. No. 100-568, 102

Stat. 2853, 2859.

The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 amended section 411(a) by

inserting "and an action brought for a violation of the rights of the

author under section 106A(a)" after "United States." Pub. L. No.

101-650, 104 Stat. 5089, 5131. In 1997, section 411(b)(1) was amended in

its entirety. Pub. L. No. 105-80, 111 Stat. 1529, 1532.

The WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties

Implementation Act of 1998 amended the first sentence in section 411(a)

by deleting "actions for infringement of copyright in Berne Convention

works whose country of origin is not the United and" and by inserting

"United States" after "no action for infringement of the copyright in

any." Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860, 2863.

11 The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 amended section 412 by inserting

"an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under

section 106A(a) or" after "other than." Pub. L. No. 101-650, 104 Stat.

5089, 5131.

Chapter 5 [1]

Copyright Infringement and Remedies

Infringement of copyright Remedies for infringement: Injunctions

Remedies for infringement: Impounding and disposition of

infringing articles

Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits Remedies for infringement: Costs and attorney's fees Criminal offenses Limitations on actions Notification of filing and determination of actions Seizure and forfeiture Remedies for alteration of programming by cable systems

Liability of States, instrumentalities of States, and State

officials for infringement of copyright

Limitations on liability relating to material online

[2] Determination of reasonable license fees for individual

proprietors

Section 501. Infringement of copyright [3]

(a) Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright

owner as provided by sections 106 through 121 or of the author as

provided in section 106A(a), or who imports copies or phonorecords into

the United States in violation of section 602, is an infringer of the

copyright or right of the author, as the case may be. For purposes of

this chapter (other than section 506), any reference to copyright shall

be deemed to include the rights conferred by section 106A(a). As used in

this subsection, the term "anyone" includes any State, any

instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or

instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity. Any

State, and any such instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be

subject to the provisions of this title in the same manner and to the

same extent as any nongovernmental entity.

(b) The legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right under a

copyright is entitled, subject to the requirements of section 411, to

institute an action for any infringement of that particular right

committed while he or she is the owner of it. The court may require such

owner to serve written notice of the action with a copy of the complaint

upon any person shown, by the records of the Copyright Office or

otherwise, to have or claim an interest in the copyright, and shall

require that such notice be served upon any person whose interest is

likely to be affected by a decision in the case. The court may require

the joinder, and shall permit the intervention, of any person having or

claiming an interest in the copyright.

(c) For any secondary transmission by a cable system that embodies a

performance or a display of a work which is actionable as an act of

infringement under subsection (c) of section 111, a television broadcast

station holding a copyright or other license to transmit or perform the

same version of that work shall, for purposes of subsection (b) of this

section, be treated as a legal or beneficial owner if such secondary

transmission occurs within the local service area of that television

station.

(d) For any secondary transmission by a cable system that is actionable

as an act of infringement pursuant to section 111(c)(3), the following

shall also have standing to sue: (i) the primary transmitter whose

transmission has been altered by the cable system; and (ii) any

broadcast station within whose local service area the secondary

transmission occurs.

(e) With respect to any secondary transmission that is made by a

satellite carrier of a performance or