What is Criminal Copyright Infringement?

Infringers of intellectual property rights can be sued civilly and, in some cases, criminally for the same infringing act. The civil statute of limitations is three years, but a federal prosecutor has a five-year statute of limitations to bring a criminal case against an infringer. The copyright must be registered in order to bring a felony copyright infringement action.

The prosecutor must prove that the defendant willfully infringed for commercial advantage or financial gain by reproducing or distributing one or more copies or phono records of one or more copyrighted works with a total retail value of more than $1,000 during a 180-day period, or by making a work that was being prepared for commercial distribution publicly accessible on a computer.

You may also face criminal penalties under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) if you attempt to circumvent a copyright control, such as digital rights management (DRM) technology or encryption. Copyright controls can either prevent you from accessing a work or limit what you can do once you do (copy controls). Access control circumvention is prohibited.

There is no prohibition on evading copy-control measures, but it is illegal for someone to provide you with tools to do so, and you may be infringing. Access and copy controls are frequently combined.