Anticounterfeiting Consumer Protection Act of 1996

Summary: Anticounterfeiting Consumer Protection Act of 1996 - Makes the following (counterfeiting offenses) predicate offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act:  (1) trafficking in counterfeit labels for phonorecords, computer programs or computer program documentation or packaging and copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works; (2) criminal copyright infringement; (3) unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of live music performances; (4) trafficking in goods or services bearing counterfeit marks; and (5) interstate transportation of stolen property. 
(Sec. 4) Amends the Federal criminal code to extend to computer programs and computer program documentation and packaging existing prohibitions and penalties applicable to trafficking in counterfeit labels affixed or designed to be affixed to phonorecords or copies of a motion picture or other audiovisual work. 
(Sec. 5) Requires the Attorney General to include in a report to the Congress, on a district by district basis, an accounting of all actions taken by the Department of Justice that involve counterfeiting offenses. 
(Sec. 6) Amends the Lanham Act to:  (1) require the court to order the seizure of an aircraft, vehicle, or vessel used in connection with a violation of such Act; and (2) permit the plaintiff, in a case involving the use of a counterfeit mark in connection with the sale, offering for sale, or distribution of goods or services, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages, as specified. 
(Sec. 8) Repeals a provision allowing forfeited articles that are excluded from importation under Federal copyright law to be refunded to the country of export whenever it is shown that the importer had no reasonable grounds for believing that his or her acts constituted a violation of law. 
(Sec. 9) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to:  (1) direct the Secretary of the Treasury, after forfeiture of merchandise bearing a counterfeit American trademark, to destroy the merchandise; or (2) alternatively, authorize the Secretary to obliterate the trademark where feasible and dispose of the goods seized as specified if the merchandise is not unsafe or a hazard to health and the Secretary has the consent of the trademark owner. 
(Sec. 10) Establishes civil penalties for aiding and abetting the importation for sale or public distribution of merchandise that is seized for bearing a counterfeit American trademark.  Sets limits on fines for first and subsequent seizures, based on the value that the merchandise would have had if it were genuine.  Specifies that the imposition of such fine shall be within the discretion of the Customs Service and in addition to any other civil or criminal penalty or other remedy authorized by law. 
(Sec. 11) Provides for the public disclosure of aircraft manifests. 
(Sec. 12) Directs the Secretary to require that entry documentation contain information necessary to determine whether the imported merchandise bears an infringing trademark. 
(Sec. 13) Includes within the definition of "contraband":  (1) a counterfeit label for a phonorecord, computer program or its documentation or packaging, or motion picture or other audiovisual work; (2) a phonorecord or copy that criminally infringes a copyright; (3) a prohibited unauthorized fixation of a sound recording or music video of a live musical performance; or (4) any good bearing a counterfeit mark.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Anticounterfeiting Consumer 
Protection Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. COUNTERFEITING AS RACKETEERING.

    Section 1961(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting ``, section 2318 (relating to trafficking in counterfeit 
labels for phonorecords, computer programs or computer program 
documentation or packaging and copies of motion pictures or other 
audiovisual works), section 2319 (relating to criminal infringement of 
a copyright), section 2320 (relating to trafficking in goods or 
services bearing counterfeit marks)'' after ``sections 2314 and 2315 
(relating to interstate transportation of stolen property),''.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION TO COMPUTER PROGRAMS, COMPUTER PROGRAM 
              DOCUMENTATION, OR PACKAGING.

    Section 2318 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``a computer program or 
        computer program documentation or packaging or'' after ``copy 
        of'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting ```computer 
        program,''' after ```motion picture,'''; and
            (3) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ``a copy of a 
        computer program or computer program documentation or 
        packaging,'' after ``enclose,''.

SEC. 4. TRAFFICKING IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS OR SERVICES.

    Section 2320 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(e) Beginning with the first year after the date of the enactment 
of this subsection, the Attorney General shall include in the report of 
the Attorney General to Congress on the business of the Department of 
Justice prepared pursuant to section 522 of title 28, on a district by 
district basis, for all actions involving trafficking in counterfeit 
labels for phonorecords, copies of computer programs or computer 
program documentation or packaging, copies of motion pictures or other 
audiovisual works (as defined in section 2318 of title 18), criminal 
infringement of copyrights (as defined in section 2319 of title 18), or 
trafficking in goods or services bearing counterfeit marks (as defined 
in section 2320 of title 18), an accounting of--
            ``(1) the number of open investigations;
            ``(2) the number of cases referred by the United States 
        Customs Service;
            ``(3) the number of cases referred by other agencies or 
        sources; and
            ``(4) the number and outcome, including settlements, 
        sentences, recoveries, and penalties, of all prosecutions 
        brought under sections 2318, 2319, and 2320 to title 18.''.

SEC. 5. SEIZURE OF COUNTERFEIT GOODS.

    Section 34(d)(9) of the Act of July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the 
Lanham Act) (15 U.S.C. 1116(d)(9)) is amended by striking the first 
sentence and inserting the following: ``A court may order the seizure 
of an aircraft, vehicle, or vessel used in connection with a violation 
of this Act. The court shall order that service of a copy of the order 
under this subsection shall be made by a Federal law enforcement 
officer (such as a United States marshal or an officer or agent of the 
United States Customs Service, Secret Service, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, or the United States Postal Service) or may be made by a 
State or local law enforcement officer, who, upon making service, shall 
carry out the seizure under the order.''.

SEC. 6. DISPOSITION OF MERCHANDISE BEARING COUNTERFEIT AMERICAN 
              TRADEMARK AND CIVIL PENALTIES.

    Title VI of the Act of July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the Lanham 
Act) (15 U.S.C. 1114 and following) is amended by inserting after 
section 34 the following:
    ``Sec. 34A. (a) Any merchandise bearing a counterfeit mark (as 
defined in section 45) imported into the United States in violation of 
section 42 shall be seized by the appropriate Federal official and, in 
the absence of the written consent of the trademark owner, forfeited. 
Upon seizure of such merchandise, the appropriate official shall notify 
the owner of the trademark, and shall, after forfeiture, destroy the 
merchandise. Alternatively, if the merchandise is not unsafe or a 
hazard to health, and the official has the consent of the trademark 
owner, the appropriate official may obliterate the trademark where 
feasible and dispose of the goods seized--
            ``(1) by delivery to such Federal, State, and local 
        government agencies as in the opinion of the appropriate 
        official have a need for such merchandise;
            ``(2) by gift to such eleemosynary institutions as in the 
        opinion of the appropriate official have a need for such 
        merchandise; or
            ``(3) more than 1 year after the date of forfeiture, by 
        sale by appropriate officials at public auction, except that 
        before making any such sale the official shall determine that 
        no Federal, State, or local government agency or eleemosynary 
        institution has established a need for such merchandise under 
        paragraph (1) or (2).
    ``(b)(1) Any person who directs, assists financially or otherwise, 
or is in any way concerned in the importation of merchandise for sale 
or public distribution that is seized under subsection (a) shall be 
subject to a civil fine.
    ``(2) For the first such seizure, the fine shall be equal to the 
value that the merchandise would have had if it were genuine, according 
to the manufacturer's suggested retail price, as determined under 
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.
    ``(3) For the second seizure and thereafter, the fine shall be 
equal to twice the value that the merchandise would have had if it were 
genuine, according to the manufacturer's suggested retail price, as 
determined under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury.
    ``(4) The imposition of a fine under this subsection shall be 
within the discretion of the court, and shall be in addition to any 
other civil or criminal penalty or other remedy authorized by law.''.

SEC. 7. RECOVERY FOR VIOLATION OF RIGHTS.

    Section 35 of the Act of July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the Lanham 
Act) ( 15 U.S.C. 1117), is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) In a case involving the use of a counterfeit mark (as defined 
in section 34(d)) in connection with the sale, offering for sale, or 
distribution of goods or services, the plaintiff may elect, at any time 
before final judgment is rendered by the trial court, to recover, 
instead of actual damages and profits under subsection (a), an award of 
statutory damages for any such use in the amount of--
            ``(1) not less than $500 or more than $100,000 per 
        counterfeit mark per type of goods or services sold, offered 
        for sale, or distributed, as the court considers just; or
            ``(2) if the court finds that the use of the counterfeit 
        mark was willful, not more than $1,000,000 per counterfeit mark 
        per type of goods or services sold, offered for sale, or 
        distributed, as the court considers just.''.

SEC. 8. DISPOSITION OF EXCLUDED ARTICLES.

    Section 603(c) of title 17, United States Code, is amended in the 
second sentence by striking ``as the case may be;'' and all that 
follows through the end and inserting ``as the case may be.''.

SEC. 9. RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 42 of the Act of July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the Lanham 
Act) ( 15 U.S.C. 1124) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' after ``Sec. 42.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b)(1) The owner, registrant, or authorized user of a trademark 
registered under this Act, and any authorized agent or representative 
thereof, shall be entitled to obtain from the appropriate Federal 
officers in a timely manner the following information when contained in 
a vessel or aircraft manifest:
            ``(A) The name and address of each importer or consignee 
        and the name and address of the shipper to such importer or 
        consignee, unless the importer or consignee has made a biennial 
        certification, in accordance with procedures adopted by the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, claiming confidential treatment of 
        such information.
            ``(B) The general character of the cargo.
            ``(C) The number of packages and gross weight.
            ``(D) The name of the vessel or aircraft.
            ``(E) The port of loading.
            ``(F) The port of discharge.
            ``(G) The country of origin of the shipment.
    ``(2) The documentation relating to the entry into the United 
States of imported merchandise shall contain such information as may be 
necessary to determine whether the merchandise bears an infringing 
trademark in violation of subsection (a) or any other applicable law, 
including a trademark appearing on goods or packaging.''.