- Amendment of Sec. 410, Copyright Act:
By way of Sec. 410 of the Copyright Act, the Registrar of Copyrights examines and determines whether particular material submitted is "copyrightable subject matter" and if so, subsequently gives a Certificate of Registration. The Pro-IP Act amends Sec. 410 ((c) and (d) are now (d) and (e) respectively) to insert (c) which embodies the "doctrine of fraud" in the registration process (see here). The Amended section reads as follows:
“(c) (1) A certificate of registration satisfies the requirements of section 411 and section 412 regardless of any inaccurate information contained in the certificate, unless—
“(A) the inaccurate information was included on the application for copyright registration with knowledge that it was inaccurate; and
“(B) the inaccuracy of the information, if known, would have caused the Register of Copyrights to refuse registration.
“(2) In any case in which inaccuracies described under paragraph (1) are alleged, the court shall request the Register of Copyrights to advise the court whether the inaccuracy of the information, if known, would have caused the Register of Copyrights to refuse registration.
“(3) Nothing in this subsection shall affect any rights, obligations, or requirements of a person related to information contained in a registration certificate except for the institution of and remedies in infringement actions under sections 411 and 412.”.
- Copyright Registration is not a prerequisite to institute Criminal Prosecution
The original language of Sec. 411 is "no action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title." Sec. 411 has been amended and as shown in an analysis done of DoJ's suggestions. "No actions" in Sec. 411 of the Copyright Act now clarifies that copyright registration is a requisite only in civil actions and not criminal ones. A rationale that was not happily accepted was "Prosecutors do not control whether or when a copyrighted work is registered. Because prosecutors work for the public good, they should be able to institute an infringement prosecution even if the copyright has not yet been registered." The Amendment reads as follows:
"(1) in the section heading, by inserting “civil” after “and” ; and
(2) in subsection (a), by striking “no action” and inserting “no civil action”.(b) Technical and conforming amendment.—Section 411(b) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by striking “506 and sections 509 and” and inserting “505 and section”."
The good news is that the Attorney General does not have the power to pursue civil infringement cases and copyright owners may do so on their own. The Attorney General may pursue infringers only in cases that are criminal in nature. Additionally, no new provision has been added to the DMCA for "anti-trafficking" measures.
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