Proving Disgorgement Damages in a Copyright Infringement Case is a Three-Act Play

Remedies allowed by the Copyright Act include injunctive relief, impoundment, destruction, damages, and court costs. (1) If the plaintiff has timely registered a claim of copyright with the copyright office, the plaintiff then has additional arrows in his or her quiver in the form of statutory damages and attorneys' fees. While many copyright formalities were eliminated when the United States joined the Berne Convention, this provision of the law was retained as a powerful incentive to encourage copyright owners to register their works in a timely manner. If the infringement is of an unpublished work, then registration is timely if it is made before the infringement commenced. (2) If the work is published, then registration is deemed timely if it is made within three months after the first publication of the work and the infringement commenced after the first publication of the work. (3) There are certain exceptions in the event of a live broadcast, because it would be physically impossible to register a copyright before the infringement occurred, as the infringement is taking place simultaneously with the initial distribution of the work. (4)