To Claim Infringement; Copyright Remedies

To establish a claim of copyright infringement in court, the party claiming that their copyright has been infringed must prove:

1. Ownership of a valid copyright. This requires that the work  being infringed be registered with the copyright office.
2. Copying of constituent elements of the work that are original.

The law defines a “copyright infringer as someone who ‘violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 118’ of the copyright law.”

Remedies:

A court with jurisdiction over copyright civil actions may grant reasonable temporary and final injunctions, as appropriate, to prevent or restrain infringement of a copyright.

While court actions are pending, the court may impound any copies of the copyrighted work that have been claimed to have been made or used in the infringement.

If infringement is proven, the court may order destruction of any copies of the copyrighted work that have been claimed to have been made or used in the infringement.

The copyright infringer is liable for

1. the copyright owner's actual damages and any additional  profits of the infringer, or
2. statutory damages.

 Attorney's fees may be awarded by a court to whichever party  wins.

 Statutory damages and attorney's fees cannot be awarded if,  at the time of the infringement,

• the work is unpublished
• the work is published, but not yet registered with the copyright office. (The only exception to this is if the infringement occurs right after the work is first published and the work is subsequently registered with the copyright office within three months of first being published.)

Infringement in some circumstances where the infringer makes a profit may be a criminal offense.  The copyright statute of limitations is 5 years for criminal offenses and three years for civil claims.