When
an author of a creative work discovers that his or her work has been infringed
upon based on the laws of intellectual property, he or she has the right to
file a civil lawsuit against the infringing party. Copyright infringement in
the United States is a very serious offense and is protected by firm
intellectual law.
The
law is designed to protect authors and the original ideas they create. If
a copyright holder successfully files a civil suit against an infringing party,
a court will decide on an infringement remedy. The copyright holder may be
entitled to an award in the form of monetary damages.
Injunctions and Impounding
An injunction is a court order demanding an
immediate halt in the production of accused work of copyright infringement.
The purpose of an injunction is to halt the continuation of the illegal
activity with respect to the plaintiff’s claims of infringement. Assuming that
the plaintiff is victorious in the copyright infringement case, any damage done
to their work of authorship is minimized due to the injunction. If the
defendant is victorious, production of his or her work can resume once the
injunction is lifted.
At a certain point during a copyright infringement
case, a judge may order the seizure of all manufactured material thought to be
illegal due to copyright infringement. In addition, any material used to create
the illegal works should also be impounded, including molds, masters, tapes,
film negatives, etc.
Damage and Profits
Statutory
damages may be requested as copyright infringement remedies by the plaintiff in
the event that he or she is victorious. These are basically fixed costs
determined by a judge for which the defendant is liable. The range of statutory
damages can be anywhere from $750 to $30,000. If it has been found that the
infringing party has committed the copyright violation willfully, the total may
be raised to $150,000.
Costs and Attorney Fees
Costs and attorney fees can be part of copyright
infringement remedies. During a copyright infringement civil suit, regardless
of the victorious party, he or she may be entitled to damages based on the
costs of going to court. In addition, the victorious party may be awarded the
entire cost of the legal fees of his or her attorney, or at least a portion of
that cost.
