§2319. Criminal infringement of a copyright

(a) Whoever violates section 506(a) (relating to criminal offenses) of title 17 shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section and such penalties shall be in addition to any other provisions of title 17 or any other law.

(b) Any person who commits an offense under subsection (a) of this section-

(1) shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution, during any 180-day period, of at last ¹ 10 copies or phonorecords, of 1 or more copyrighted works, with a retail value of more than $2,500;

(2) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under paragraph (1); and

(3) shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both, in any other case.

(c) As used in this section-

(1) the terms "phonorecord" and "copies" have, respectively, the meanings set forth in section 101 (relating to definitions) of title 17; and

(2) the terms "reproduction" and "distribution" refer to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner under clauses (1) and (3) respectively of section 106 (relating to exclusive rights in copyrighted works), as limited by sections 107 through 120, of title 17.

(Added Pub. L. 97–180, §3, May 24, 1982, 96 Stat. 92 ; amended Pub. L. 102–561, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4233 .)

Amendments

1992-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–561, §1, amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: "Any person who commits an offense under subsection (a) of this section-

"(1) shall be fined not more than $250,000 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both, if the offense-

"(A) involves the reproduction or distribution, during any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period, of at least one thousand phonorecords or copies infringing the copyright in one or more sound recordings;

"(B) involves the reproduction or distribution, during any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period, of at least sixty-five copies infringing the copyright in one or more motion pictures or other audiovisual works; or

"(C) is a second or subsequent offense under either of subsection (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section, where a prior offense involved a sound recording, or a motion picture or other audiovisual work;

"(2) shall be fined not more than $250,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both, if the offense-

"(A) involves the reproduction or distribution, during any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period, of more than one hundred but less than one thousand phonorecords or copies infringing the copyright in one or more sound recordings; or

"(B) involves the reproduction or distribution, during any one-hundred-and-eighty-day period, of more than seven but less than sixty-five copies infringing the copyright in one or more motion pictures or other audiovisual works; and

"(3) shall be fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both, in any other case."

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102–561, §2, substituted " 'phonorecord' " for " 'sound recording', 'motion picture', 'audiovisual work', 'phonorecord'," in par. (1) and "120" for "118" in par. (2).

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in section 1956 of this title; title 17 sections 109, 506.

¹ So in original. Probably should be "least".