RE: Re: attorney's fees: 17 U.S.C §412 v §1203

S. Martin Kaleli wrote:
>Section 1203 applies to chapter 12 in particular...

<<< Martin -- Thanks for your reply. If chapter 12 is an island unto itself, despite embedded indications of at least some subservience to other provisions of Title 17(see below), then might it follow that statutory damages under 1023(c)(3)(B) would be available to Plaintiffs whether or not a work is registered prior to a violation of 1201 or 1202, or even where a work has never been registered? And might it also follow that a copyright circumvention suit could be filed in federal court without first registering copyright in the circumvented work?  

If so, this would reduce the incentive to register works, and in the event of a conflict, would deprive both parties of access to a pre-infringement/circumvention deposit of the work with date stamp. It also would also serve to hinder the work of the library of congress towards fulfilling its congressional mandate. And, where a matter involves both a copyright infringement and a circumvention claim, there would be statutory damages and attorney fees available on the circumvention claim but not on the infringement claim. 1023(c)(1) does state “Except as otherwise provided in this title, a person committing a violation of section 1201 or 1202 is liable for either..” but on a careful reading, 412 seems to only apply to apply to 504 and 505 statutory awards and attorneys fees related to infringements.

My article is directed at artists and explores the benefits of copyright registration. I'd be interested in any opinions on chapter 12's provisions applying to registrations and remedies, specifically statutory damages and attorney's fees.

Thanks
_J_e_f_f__S_e_d_l_i_k_ Received on Tue Jul 13 2004 - 01:25:32 GMT