T his report summarizes the federal civil remedies and criminal penalties that may be available for violations of the rights granted by the federal intellectual property laws: the Copyright Act of 1976, the Patent Act of 1952, the Trademark Act of 1946 (conventionally known as the Lanham Act), and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. The Copyright Act, Patent Act, and Lanham Act provide legal protection for intellectual property against unauthorized use, theft, and other violations of the rights granted by those statutes to the IP owner. The Copyright Act provides copyright owners with the exclusive right to control reproduction, distribution, public performance, and display of their copyrighted works. In addition, the Lanham Act grants to owners of "famous" trademarks the right to seek injunctive relief against another person's use in commerce of a mark or trade name if such use causes dilution by blurring or tarnishment of the distinctive quality of the famous trademark. In certain circumstances, a variety of federal agencies may become involved in IP rights enforcement: for example, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has the power to seize counterfeit goods upon their attempted importation in the United States; the International Trade Commission may investigate and adjudicate allegations of unfair trade practices due to the importing of goods that were produced as a result of trade secret theft or that infringe U.S. patents, trademarks, or copyrights; and the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, and the U.S. State Department are all involved in promoting and seeking IP rights enforcement by trading partners and other foreign countries. Information regarding the civil remedies and criminal penalties for violations of the copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret laws is presented on the following pages in table-format. Restitution is available when the defendant is convicted of a criminal property offense.
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, the Trademark Act of 1946 (conventionally known as the Lanham Act), and the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. 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 systems); 18 U.S.C. §2319A (bootleg recordings of live musical performances); 18 U.S.C. §2319B (unauthorized recording of films 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).