Under the Copyright Act, an infringer of a copyright is liable for either the owner’s actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer or statutory damages. It is within the discretion of the plaintiff, or individual seeking to protect his or her copyrighted work, to elect either actual damages or statutory damages.
More often than not, the owner will elect statutory damages where that owner has registered the work with the Library of Congress. The reason for this is that the owner may not be able to establish actual damage to the copyright, to the owner’s business, or ill-gotten profits of the infringer in such a way that the total amount is greater than that which is available under the Copyright Act for statutory damages.
Unlike other copyrights pertaining to text, a photograph, a computer program and the underlying source code, a music recording, or some other material, websites often include all of these types of material. As such, when drafting the copyright application, using Form TX, it is important to specifically identify for what you’re claiming protection.
While statutory damages are intended to create an incentive for owners to protect their valuable intellectual property, and conversely to deter the unauthorized and unlawful use of another’s copyright, the ability to recover costs and attorneys’ fees is yet an additional motivation of some owners when seeking to redress copyright infringement. Once again, the importance of a federal registration of a copyright becomes clear because not only are statutory damages available, but attorneys’ fees and costs are also available in an infringement lawsuit.
If you receive an infringement of copyright letter, you have several options. The first is to comply and cease and desist any and all use of the infringing work. While this may be enough to resolve the matter, as noted above, there may be additional requirements of a retroactive license or other demands.
With these principles in mind, owners can make educated decisions regarding which works to protect with federal registrations, how often to file such registrations, and whether to file as compilations, understanding that infringement of such compilation will be limited to statutory damages for one work.
Resource Author Francisco R. Higueras
Understand How to Make Money Without Money Today
Todo sobre Juegos para gente que le gusta jugar
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