Copyright Fraud Laws
United States law recognizes two broad areas of copyright fraud. One type involves the unlawful, commercial distribution of intellectual property to which the seller does not hold rightful copyright.The second type involves an unfair claim of copyright over material that is often in the public domain. In each instance, the infringement involves an attempt to collect unlawful profit for the person or organization involved. Copyright fraud has become especially compelling with rampant file sharing and other distribution of copyrighted materials over the Internet.
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Function of Copyright Protection
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Copyright protection for intellectual property is designed to insure that the rightful owner of an original work enjoys the benefits of that work. These benefits include the right to control the duplication of the work and the entitlement to collect any monetary gain from the work. Copyright fraud is an infringement of this right in that the profits from a piece of intellectual property are unfairly diverted to an individual or organization that is not entitled to the benefit.
Copyright Piracy
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Copyright piracy is the illegal duplication of copyrighted materials. Technically, piracy applies to all unlawful duplication and distribution of intellectual property. Criminal charges, however, apply to the commercial distribution of illegally duplicated intellectual property. One example is the common appearance of pirated DVDs sold of new movies, sometimes before they are even released in theaters. Another common occurrence of copyright piracy is the sale of illegal copies of computer software for cut-rate prices.
Copyfraud
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Jason Mazzone, Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, coined the term "copyfraud" to describe the unauthorized claims of individuals or organizations, often nonprofit agencies, to hold the rights to distribution and duplication of materials that are actually in the public domain. With copyfraud, the unjustified claims are often used to collect licensing fees to use material that is actually freely available, or worse, to prevent the use of public domain materials in adaptations or other derivative material by other artists or scholars.
Civil Remedies for Copyright Fraud
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The rightful owner of intellectual property not in the public domain is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered as a result of copyright fraud. This usually pertains to any profits collected as a result of the copyright fraud. The copyright owner has the right to collect statutory damages instead of actual damages, ranging from $750 to $30,000, with the actual amount determined by the courts. In cases where the infringement is found to be willful, a statutory award may be increased to $150,000. In cases where it is found that there is a reasonable assumption that the use of the copyrighted material fell under the fair use doctrine, the statutory award may be decreased to $200.
Criminal Punishment for Copyright Fraud
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In addition to civil remedies, intentional copyright fraud also carries criminal penalties. The intent to commercially distribute or reproduce the intellectual property to obtain financial gain must be established, and the intellectual property must be valued at more than $1000. Evidence of reproduction is not enough to establish a criminal charge of copyright fraud. Copyright fraud includes unlawfully placing a copyright claim over material that is often actually in the public domain. It also includes unlawfully removing a copyright symbol from intellectual property. In each instance, all unlawfully obtained profits must be forfeited. In addition, a fine of up to $2500 may be imposed for each offense.
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