II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2237

To amend chapter 5 of title 17, United States Code, to authorize civil 

copyright enforcement by the Attorney General, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 25, 2004

Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend chapter 5 of title 17, United States Code, to 

authorize civil copyright enforcement by the Attorney 

General, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Intellectual 

5 Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF CIVIL COPYRIGHT ENFORCE7 MENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 17, United 

9 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 506 the 

10 following: 
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1 ‘‘§ 506a. Civil penalties for violations of section 506

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may com3 mence a civil action in the appropriate United States dis4 trict court against any person who engages in conduct con5 stituting an offense under section 506. Upon proof of such 

6 conduct by a preponderance of the evidence, such person 

7 shall be subject to a civil penalty under section 504 which 

8 shall be in an amount equal to the amount which would 

9 be awarded under section 3663(a)(1)(B) of title 18 and 

10 restitution to the copyright owner aggrieved by the con11 duct. 

12 ‘‘(b) OTHER REMEDIES.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Imposition of a civil pen14 alty under this section does not preclude any other 

15 criminal or civil statutory, injunctive, common law or 

16 administrative remedy, which is available by law to 

17 the United States or any other person; 

18 ‘‘(2) OFFSET.—Any restitution received by a 

19 copyright owner as a result of a civil action brought 

20 under this section shall be offset against any award 

21 of damages in a subsequent copyright infringement 

22 civil action by that copyright owner for the conduct 

23 that gave rise to the civil action brought under this 

24 section.’’. 

25 (b) DAMAGES AND PROFITS.—Section 504 of title 17, 

26 United States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) in subsection (b)—

2 (A) in the first sentence—

3 (i) by inserting ‘‘, or the Attorney 

4 General in a civil action,’’ after ‘‘The copy5 right owner’’; and 

6 (ii) by striking ‘‘him or her’’ and in7 serting ‘‘the copyright owner’’; and 

8 (B) in the second sentence by inserting ‘‘, 

9 or the Attorney General in a civil action,’’ after 

10 ‘‘the copyright owner’’; and 

11 (2) in subsection (c)—

12 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, or the 

13 Attorney General in a civil action,’’ after ‘‘the 

14 copyright owner’’; and 

15 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, or 

16 the Attorney General in a civil action,’’ after 

17 ‘‘the copyright owner’’. 

18 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

19 The table of sections for chapter 5 of title 17, United 

20 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat21 ing to section 506 the following:

‘‘506a. Civil penalties for violation of section 506.’’.

22 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING FOR TRAINING AND 

23 PILOT PROGRAM. 

24 (a) TRAINING AND PILOT PROGRAM.—Not later than 

25 180 days after enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen-
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1 eral shall develop a program to ensure effective implemen2 tation and use of the authority for civil enforcement of 

3 the copyright laws by—

4 (1) establishing training programs, including 

5 practical training and written materials, for qualified 

6 personnel from the Department of Justice and 

7 United States Attorneys Offices to educate and in8 form such personnel about—

9 (A) resource information on intellectual 

10 property and the legal framework established 

11 both to protect and encourage creative works as 

12 well as legitimate uses of information and 

13 rights under the first amendment of the United 

14 States Constitution; 

15 (B) the technological challenges to pro16 tecting digital copyrighted works from online pi17 racy; 

18 (C) guidance on and support for bringing 

19 copyright enforcement actions against persons 

20 engaging in infringing conduct, including model 

21 charging documents and related litigation mate22 rials; 

23 (D) strategic issues in copyright enforce24 ment actions, including whether to proceed in a 

25 criminal or a civil action; 
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1 (E) how to employ and leverage the exper2 tise of technical experts in computer forensics; 

3 (F) the collection and preservation of elec4 tronic data in a forensically sound manner for 

5 use in court proceedings; 

6 (G) the role of the victim copyright owner 

7 in providing relevant information for enforce8 ment actions and in the computation of dam9 ages; and 

10 (H) the appropriate use of injunctions, im11 poundment, forfeiture, and related authorities 

12 in copyright law; 

13 (2) designating personnel from at least 4 

14 United States Attorneys Offices to participate in a 

15 pilot program designed to implement the civil en16 forcement authority of the Attorney General under 

17 section 506a of title 17, United States Code, as 

18 added by this Act; and 

19 (3) reporting to Congress annually on—

20 (A) the use of the civil enforcement au21 thority of the Attorney General under section 

22 506a of title 17, United States Code, as added 

23 by this Act; and 
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1 (B) the progress made in implementing the 

2 training and pilot programs described under 

3 paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection. 

4 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—The report under subsection 

5 (a)(3) may be included in the annual performance report 

6 of the Department of Justice and shall include—

7 (1) with respect to civil actions filed under sec8 tion 506a of title 17, United States Code, as added 

9 by this Act—

10 (A) the number of investigative matters re11 ceived by the Department of Justice and United 

12 States Attorneys Offices; 

13 (B) the number of defendants involved in 

14 those matters; 

15 (C) the number of civil actions filed and 

16 the number of defendants involved; 

17 (D) the number of civil actions resolved or 

18 terminated; 

19 (E) the number of defendants involved in 

20 those civil actions; 

21 (F) the disposition of those civil actions, 

22 including whether the civil actions were settled, 

23 dismissed, or resolved after a trial; 
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1 (G) the dollar value of any civil penalty im2 posed and the amount remitted to any copy3 right owner; and 

4 (H) other information that the Attorney 

5 General may consider relevant to inform Con6 gress on the effective use of the civil enforce7 ment authority; 

8 (2) a description of the training program and 

9 the number of personnel who participated in the pro10 gram; and 

11 (3) the locations of the United States Attorneys 

12 Offices designated to participate in the pilot pro13 gram. 

14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal 

16 year 2005 to carry out this section.

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