What are the penalties for copyright infringement?
Civil and criminal penalties may be imposed for copyright infringement. Civil remedies can include an award of monetary damages (substantial statutory damages, which, in cases of willful infringement, may total up to $150,000 per work infringed, or actual damages, including the infringers profits), an award of attorneys fees, injunctive relief against future infringement, and the impounding and destruction of infringing copies and of equipment used to produce the copies.
A copyright owner possesses the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the work in copies, to perform and display the work, and to produce derivative works based on the work. Anyone who infringes these exclusive rights without the copyright owner’s permission faces severe civil (and possibly criminal) penalties: he can be judicially restrained from further use of the work, unauthorized copies could be impounded or destroyed, and the infringer could be liable for actual damages, profits earned from the unauthorized use of the copyright owner’s work, and, if the copyright is registered, for statutory damages and attorneys fees.
The owner of a copyright may file a civil lawsuit in federal court to protect his or her rights to use the work. Depending on the nature of the infringement, actual or statutory damages may be awarded. The minimum amount of statutory damages that can be awarded for copyright infringement is $750; the maximum is $30,000. If the infringement is “willful,” the potential statutory damage award is increased to $150,000 for each infringing act. If, however, you have reasonable grounds to believe your use qualified as Fair Use, and you used the copyrighted material within the scope of your employment by Pacific University, the statutory award can be waived by the court.
In a civil suit, an infringer may be liable for a copyright owner’s actual damages plus any profits made from the infringement. Alternatively, the copyright owner may avoid proving actual damage by electing a statutory damage recovery of up to $30,000 or, where the court determines that the infringement occurred willfully, up to $150,000.
Copyright infringement can result in severe penalties both civilly and criminally with fine or potentially imprisonment. The law provides the copyright owner with the right to obtain actual damages and potentially “statutory damages,” which can range anywhere from $200 to $150,000 plus attorney fees per infringement on top of the actual losses to the copyright owner.
