Statutory damages for copyright infringement
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Statutory damages for copyright infringement are available under some countries' copyright laws. They allow copyright holders who succeed with claims of infringement to receive a certain amount of compensation per work (as opposed to compensation for losses, an account of profits or damages per infringing copy). Statutory damages can in some cases be significantly more than the actual damages suffered by the rights holder or the profits of the infringer.
At least in America, the original rationale for statutory damages was that it would often be difficult to establish the number of copies that had been made by an underground pirate business; awards of statutory damages would save rights holders from having to do so.
With the advent of litigation against individual P2P file sharers, statutory damages have become a spectacular threat which copyright industries can use against private individuals. The typical American file sharer would face statutory damages larger than all of their assets.
[edit] Statutory Damages in the United States
In the United States, statutory damages are set out in Title 17, Section 504 of the U.S. Code. The basic level of damages is between $750 and $30,000 per work, at the discretion of the court.
Plaintiffs who can show willfull infringement may be entitled to damages up to $150,000 per work. Defendants who can show that they were "not aware and had no reason to believe" they were infringing copyright may have the damages reduced to $200 per work.
Under 17 USC 412, statutory damages are only available in the United States for works that were registered with the Copyright Office prior to infringement, or within three months of publication.
