108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2237

AN ACT

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’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF CIVIL COPYRIGHT ENFORCE2 MENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.

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

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

5 following:

6 ‘‘§ 506a. Civil penalties for violations of section 506

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may com8 mence a civil action in the appropriate United States dis9 trict court against any person who engages in conduct con10 stituting an offense under section 506. Upon proof of such

11 conduct by a preponderance of the evidence, such person

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

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

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

15 restitution to the copyright owner aggrieved by the con16 duct.

17 ‘‘(b) OTHER REMEDIES.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Imposition of a civil pen19 alty under this section does not preclude any other

20 criminal or civil statutory, injunctive, common law or

21 administrative remedy, which is available by law to

22 the United States or any other person;

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

24 copyright owner as a result of a civil action brought

25 under this section shall be offset against any award

26 of damages in a subsequent copyright infringement
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1 civil action by that copyright owner for the conduct

2 that gave rise to the civil action brought under this

3 section.’’.

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

5 United States Code, is amended—

6 (1) in subsection (b)—

7 (A) in the first sentence—

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

9 General in a civil action,’’ after ‘‘The copy10 right owner’’; and

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘him or her’’ and in12 serting ‘‘the copyright owner’’; and

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

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

15 ‘‘the copyright owner’’; and

16 (2) in subsection (c)—

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

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

19 copyright owner’’; and

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

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

22 ‘‘the copyright owner’’.

23 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

24 The table of sections for chapter 5 of title 17, United
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1 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 506 the following:

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

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING FOR TRAINING AND

4 PILOT PROGRAM.

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

6 180 days after enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen7 eral shall develop a program to ensure effective implemen8 tation and use of the authority for civil enforcement of

9 the copyright laws by—

10 (1) establishing training programs, including

11 practical training and written materials, for qualified

12 personnel from the Department of Justice and

13 United States Attorneys Offices to educate and in14 form such personnel about—

15 (A) resource information on intellectual

16 property and the legal framework established

17 both to protect and encourage creative works as

18 well as legitimate uses of information and

19 rights under the first amendment of the United

20 States Constitution;

21 (B) the technological challenges to pro22 tecting digital copyrighted works from online pi23 racy;

24 (C) guidance on and support for bringing

25 copyright enforcement actions against persons
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1 engaging in infringing conduct, including model

2 charging documents and related litigation mate3 rials;

4 (D) strategic issues in copyright enforce5 ment actions, including whether to proceed in a

6 criminal or a civil action;

7 (E) how to employ and leverage the exper8 tise of technical experts in computer forensics;

9 (F) the collection and preservation of elec10 tronic data in a forensically sound manner for

11 use in court proceedings;

12 (G) the role of the victim copyright owner

13 in providing relevant information for enforce14 ment actions and in the computation of dam15 ages; and

16 (H) the appropriate use of injunctions, im17 poundment, forfeiture, and related authorities

18 in copyright law;

19 (2) designating personnel from at least 4

20 United States Attorneys Offices to participate in a

21 pilot program designed to implement the civil en22 forcement authority of the Attorney General under

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

24 added by this Act; and

25 (3) reporting to Congress annually on—
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1 (A) the use of the civil enforcement au2 thority of the Attorney General under section

3 506a of title 17, United States Code, as added

4 by this Act; and

5 (B) the progress made in implementing the

6 training and pilot programs described under

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

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

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

10 of the Department of Justice and shall include—

11 (1) with respect to civil actions filed under sec12 tion 506a of title 17, United States Code, as added

13 by this Act—

14 (A) the number of investigative matters re15 ceived by the Department of Justice and United

16 States Attorneys Offices;

17 (B) the number of defendants involved in

18 those matters;

19 (C) the number of civil actions filed and

20 the number of defendants involved;

21 (D) the number of civil actions resolved or

22 terminated;

23 (E) the number of defendants involved in

24 those civil actions;
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1 (F) the disposition of those civil actions,

2 including whether the civil actions were settled,

3 dismissed, or resolved after a trial;

4 (G) the dollar value of any civil penalty im5 posed and the amount remitted to any copy6 right owner; and

7 (H) other information that the Attorney

8 General may consider relevant to inform Con9 gress on the effective use of the civil enforce10 ment authority;

11 (2) a description of the training program and

12 the number of personnel who participated in the pro13 gram; and

14 (3) the locations of the United States Attorneys

15 Offices designated to participate in the pilot pro16 gram.

17 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

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

19 year 2005 to carry out this section.

Passed the Senate June 25, 2004.

Attest:

Secretary.
108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2237

AN ACT

To amend chapter 5 of title 17, United States

the Attorney General, and for other purposes.Code, to authorize civil copyright enforcement by