Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Marshals are currently auctioning approximately 4,711 bottles of wine, deemed authentic, that belonged to Rudy Kurniawan, the man convicted of fraud in federal court in 2013 for producing and selling millions of dollars of counterfeit wine. The wine is being sold in two online auctions,…
Norfolk, Virginia – District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced copyright infringer to prison. Rocky P. Ouprasith, 23, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced recently to 36 months in prison for reproducing and distributing without permission millions of infringing digital copies of copyrighted works, including…
Washington, D.C. – The Justice Department has announced a new approach to combat intellectual property crimes. Grants to state and local law enforcement agencies totaling more than $3.2 million were also announced. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch stated recently that the Justice Department will launch a new collaborative strategy to…
Fort Wayne, Indiana – An Indiana intellectual property attorney for Global Archery Products, Inc. of Ashley, Indiana commenced litigation in the Northern District of Indiana alleging trademark and patent infringement by Jordan Gwyther d/b/a Larping.org and UpshotArrows.com of Seattle, Washington. Two patents are at issue in this lawsuit: U.S. Patent…
The fourth element of a criminal prosecution for copyright infringement requires that the government prove that the defendant engaged in an act of copyright infringement “for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain.” It is unnecessary that a profit be made as a result of the infringing activities. This…
The third element of a criminal prosecution for copyright infringement requires that the government establish that the defendant possessed criminal intent to infringe the holder’s copyrighted work. Courts generally agree that a “willful” act must be “an act intentionally done in violation of the law.” However, in defining willfulness when…
The second element of a criminal prosecution for copyright infringement requires that the government prove that the defendant infringed upon the holder’s rights in its copyrighted intellectual property. Although the term “infringement” itself is not specifically defined in the copyright statute, 17 U.S.C. § 501(a) provides that: “[a]nyone who violates any of…
The first element of a criminal prosecution for copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 506(a) requires proof that the copyright at issue is a valid copyright. This may be established by demonstrating that the formal requirements of copyright registration have been satisfied. Although registration of a copyrighted work is not…
The principal criminal statute protecting copyrighted works is 17 U.S.C. § 506(a), which provides that “[a]ny person who infringes a copyright willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain” shall be punished as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Section 2319 provides, in pertinent part, that a 5-year…
The law of copyright is codified at Title 17 of the United States Code. The principal prohibitions relating to criminal copyright infringement are set forth at 17 U.S.C. § 506(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319. Titles 17 and 18 also contain a number of other provisions that make illegal certain…