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Damages Available for Infringement of Copyright

Owner
Sebastian
As per the laws provided under the Copyright Act, a person who has violated the rules of the copyright is liable for either the owner's actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer or statutory damages. The plaintiff or the person who is seeking to protect his copyright work, decides either actual damages or statutory damages. Usually, a plaintiff will select statutory damages where that owner has registered the work with the Library of Congress. The main reason behind such decision is that the owner may not be able to establish actual damage to the copyright in such a way that the total amount is more than that which is available under the law.

However, it is also possible that courts evaluating the statuary damages may also look into the actual damages suffered. But the maximum and minimum amount of the statutory damages are controlled by the Copyright Act. Let us take an example to understand the topic better, suppose the court awards a infringer $150,000 as statutory damages. But he is unable to sustain its burden of proving willful infringement. Then the court has the authority to reduce the amount to a minimum of $200.

The primary aim of statutory damages is to protect the valuable intellectual property of the owner and discourage the unauthorized and unlawful use of another's copyright. Even the ability to recover cost and attorneys' fees is an additional motivation for many seeking to redress copyright infringement.

In simple words, a n owner must understand the different damages that may be available to redress infringement of copyright. In the similar manner, the infringer should also understand the seriousness of the matter as well as the legal and financial exposure. Hopefully, these points will enable owners to make educated decisions regarding the type of work which can be protected by the federal registrations.

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