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Important Statutes and Regulations

Federal Statutes & Regulations

15 USC § -- .

Also called Title 15. The "Lanham Act" which regulates trademarks, is codified in Title 15, Chapter 22.

15 USC § 1115

Section 1115 sets forth the benefits of registration of a mark in terms of its "incontestability" and defenses. Section 1115(b)(4) describes the fair use defense as a "use, otherwise than as a mark" of the individual's own name or of a trademark "which is descriptive of and used fairly and good faith only to describe the goods or services of such party, or their geographic orgin".

15 USC § 1125(d) [also called the Anti Cybersquatting Prevention Act or ACPA]

15 USC § 1125(c)(4) [also called Lanham Act § 43(c)(4)]

This section protects the rights of competitors to engage in comparative advertising, using the trademarked names of goods or services to draw their own comparisons.

17 USC § -- . Also called Title 17 or the Copyright Statute.

Read: Individual sections of Title 17 are available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17.html from Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute.

17 USC § 101.

Section 101 defines many of the terms used in the Copyright Act, including terms such as "literary works", "pictorial, graphic and sculptural works", and "publication".

17 USC § 102.

Section 102 specifies the subject matter which can be copyrighted.

17 USC § 106.

Section 106 defines the exclusive rights of the copyright holder.

17 USC § 106A.

Section 106A, also called the "Visual Artists' Rights Act" or "VARA", applies to certain visual artists, who have the right to claim authorship of works and not to be associated with works they did not create, and permits them the right to prevent certain changes to their works, such as changes to murals.

17 USC § 107.

Section 107 defines and protects fair uses of copyrighted works.

17 USC § 107-122.

Sections 107-122 establish limitations on the copyright holder's § 106 rights.

17 USC § 109.

Section 109 establishes the "first sale" limitation on copyright holders' exclusive right to control distribution of their work. The "first sale" doctrine states that copyright holders may not control distribution of their work beyond the first sale. Similar doctrines in trademark law and non-U.S. law are called "exhaustion" doctrines.

17 USC § 502.

Section 502 specifies copyright infringement remedies.

17 USC § 504.

Section 504 specifies copyright infringement remedies.

17 USC § 506.

Section 506 specifies copyright infringement remedies.

17 USC § 509.

Section 509 specifies copyright infringement remedies..

17 USC § 512.

Section 512 creates a "safe harbor", an exemption from liability, for ISPs who might otherwise have been secondarily liable for their users' copyright infringements. Section 512 was enacted in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

17 USC § 1201.

Section 1201, known as the "anticircumvention provision", restricts the use and distribution of devices intended to circumvent "technical protection measures".

17 USC § 1202.

Section 1202 restricts removal of "copyright management information" ("CMI"), such as the creator's name or copyright date, from copyrighted works; it also restricts placement of false CMI on works.

17 USC § 1203.

Section 1203 provides "civil penalties", such as injunctions, impoundments, and damages, for violations of Sections 1201 and 1202.

17 USC § 1204.

Section 1204 provides criminal penalties of up to $500,000 in fines or imprisonment for up to 5 years for violations of Sections 1201 or 1202 "willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain".

18 USC § 2319.

Criminal penalties for copyright infringement.

47 USC § 230.

Section 230 provides a safe harbor for ISPs from publisher liability for actions such as defamation. Full text at Cornell Legal Information Institute.

State Statutes & Regulations

Various laws in every state regulate aspects of copyright, trademark, the right of publicity, and other restrictions on free expression and the exchange of information. We list below only a small sampling of such statutes. The presence or absence of a statute does not indicate that there are no other similar statutes, or statutes in a particular state.

Cal. Civil Code §3344

Civil Code Section 3344 is California's right of publicity statute, first enacted in 1971. It prohibits the use of another's "name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness" in advertising without consent. Section 3344(d) contains a news and public affairs exemption, providing a defense for use in connection with "any news, public affairs, or sports broadcast or account, or any political campaign".