17 U.S.C. § 504 : US Code - Section 504: Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits

Search 17 U.S.C. § 504 : US Code - Section 504: Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits

(a) In General. - Except as otherwise provided by this title, an
infringer of copyright is liable for either -
(1) the copyright owner's actual damages and any additional
profits of the infringer, as provided by subsection (b); or
(2) statutory damages, as provided by subsection (c).
(b) Actual Damages and Profits. - The copyright owner is entitled
to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of
the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are
attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in
computing the actual damages. In establishing the infringer's
profits, the copyright owner is required to present proof only of
the infringer's gross revenue, and the infringer is required to
prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit
attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work.
(c) Statutory Damages. -
(1) Except as provided by clause (2) of this subsection, the
copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is
rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an
award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the
action, with respect to any one work, for which any one infringer
is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers
are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $750
or more than $30,000 as the court considers just. For the
purposes of this subsection, all the parts of a compilation or
derivative work constitute one work.
(2) In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of
proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed
willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of
statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000. In a case
where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court
finds, that such infringer was not aware and had no reason to
believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of
copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of
statutory damages to a sum of not less than $200. The court shall
remit statutory damages in any case where an infringer believed
and had reasonable grounds for believing that his or her use of
the copyrighted work was a fair use under section 107, if the
infringer was: (i) an employee or agent of a nonprofit
educational institution, library, or archives acting within the
scope of his or her employment who, or such institution, library,
or archives itself, which infringed by reproducing the work in
copies or phonorecords; or (ii) a public broadcasting entity
which or a person who, as a regular part of the nonprofit
activities of a public broadcasting entity (as defined in
subsection (g) of section 118) (!1) infringed by performing a
published nondramatic literary work or by reproducing a
transmission program embodying a performance of such a work.
(3)(A) In a case of infringement, it shall be a rebuttable
presumption that the infringement was committed willfully for
purposes of determining relief if the violator, or a person
acting in concert with the violator, knowingly provided or
knowingly caused to be provided materially false contact
information to a domain name registrar, domain name registry, or
other domain name registration authority in registering,
maintaining, or renewing a domain name used in connection with
the infringement.
(B) Nothing in this paragraph limits what may be considered
willful infringement under this subsection.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, the term "domain name" has
the meaning given that term in section 45 of the Act entitled "An
Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks
used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain
international conventions, and for other purposes" approved July
5, 1946 (commonly referred to as the "Trademark Act of 1946"; 15
U.S.C. 1127).
(d) Additional Damages in Certain Cases. - In any case in which
the court finds that a defendant proprietor of an establishment who
claims as a defense that its activities were exempt under section
110(5) did not have reasonable grounds to believe that its use of a
copyrighted work was exempt under such section, the plaintiff shall
be entitled to, in addition to any award of damages under this
section, an additional award of two times the amount of the license
fee that the proprietor of the establishment concerned should have
paid the plaintiff for such use during the preceding period of up
to 3 years.