[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1761 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1761

          To amend provisions of title 17, United States Code.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 11, 1999

 Mr. Rogan (for himself and Mr. Coble) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
          To amend provisions of title 17, United States Code.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. STATUTORY DAMAGES ENHANCEMENT.

    Section 504(c) of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``$500'' and inserting ``$750''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``$20,000'' and inserting 
                ``$30,000''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(2)'';
                    (B) by striking ``$100,000'' and inserting 
                ``$150,000'';
                    (C) by inserting after the second sentence the 
                following:
            ``(B) In a case where the copyright owner demonstrates that 
        the infringement was part of a repeated pattern or practice of 
        infringement, the court may increase the award of statutory 
        damages to a sum of not more than $250,000 per work.''; and
                    (D) by striking ``The court shall remit statutory 
                damages'' and inserting the following:
            ``(C) The court shall remit statutory damages''.

SEC. 3. STATUTORY DAMAGES CLARIFICATION.

    Section 504(c) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting at the end the following new sentence: ``For purposes of 
chapter 5 of title 11, `willful' infringement shall be considered to be 
willful and malicious injury to the property of another.''.
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