(a)
Prior to July 1, 1986, and except as provided by subsection (b), the importation
into or public distribution in the United States of copies of a work consisting
preponderantly of nondramatic literary material that is in the English language
and is protected under this title is prohibited unless the portions consisting
of such material have been manufactured in the United States or Canada.
(b)
The provisions of subsection (a) do not apply —
(1) where,
on the date when importation is sought or public distribution in the United States
is made, the author of any substantial part of such material is neither a national
nor a domiciliary of the United States or, if such author is a national of the
United States, he or she has been domiciled outside the United States for a continuous
period of at least one year immediately preceding that date; in the case of a
work made for hire, the exemption provided by this clause does not apply unless
a substantial part of the work was prepared for an employer or other person who
is not a national or domiciliary of the United States or a domestic corporation
or enterprise;
(2) where the United States Customs Service
is presented with an import statement issued under the seal of the Copyright Office,
in which case a total of no more than two thousand copies of any one such work
shall be allowed entry; the import statement shall be issued upon request to the
copyright owner or to a person designated by such owner at the time of registration
for the work under section 408 or at any time thereafter;
(3)
where importation is sought under the authority or for the use, other than in
schools, of the Government of the United States or of any State or political subdivision
of a State;
(4) where importation, for use and not for
sale, is sought —
(A) by any person with respect to no
more than one copy of any work at any one time;
(B) by
any person arriving from outside the United States, with respect to copies forming
part of such person's personal baggage; or
(C) by an
organization operated for scholarly, educational, or religious purposes and not
for private gain, with respect to copies intended to form a part of its library;
(5)
where the copies are reproduced in raised characters for the use of the blind;
or
(6) where, in addition to copies imported under clauses
(3) and (4) of this subsection, no more than two thousand copies of any one such
work, which have not been manufactured in the United States or Canada, are publicly
distributed in the United States; or
(7) where, on the
date when importation is sought or public distribution in the United States is
made —
(A) the author of any substantial part of such
material is an individual and receives compensation for the transfer or license
of the right to distribute the work in the United States; and
(B)
the first publication of the work has previously taken place outside the United
States under a transfer or license granted by such author to a transferee or licensee
who was not a national or domiciliary of the United States or a domestic corporation
or enterprise; and
(C) there has been no publication
of an authorized edition of the work of which the copies were manufactured in
the United States; and
(D) the copies were reproduced
under a transfer or license granted by such author or by the transferee or licensee
of the right of first publication as mentioned in subclause (B), and the transferee
or the licensee of the right of reproduction was not a national or domiciliary
of the United States or a domestic corporation or enterprise.
(c)
The requirement of this section that copies be manufactured in the United States
or Canada is satisfied if —
(1) in the case where the
copies are printed directly from type that has been set, or directly from plates
made from such type, the setting of the type and the making of the plates have
been performed in the United States or Canada; or
(2)
in the case where the making of plates by a lithographic or photoengraving process
is a final or intermediate step preceding the printing of the copies, the making
of the plates has been performed in the United States or Canada; and
(3)
in any case, the printing or other final process of producing multiple copies
and any binding of the copies have been performed in the United States or Canada.
(d)
Importation or public distribution of copies in violation of this section does
not invalidate protection for a work under this title. However, in any civil action
or criminal proceeding for infringement of the exclusive rights to reproduce and
distribute copies of the work, the infringer has a complete defense with respect
to all of the nondramatic literary material comprised in the work and any other
parts of the work in which the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute copies
are owned by the same person who owns such exclusive rights in the nondramatic
literary material, if the infringer proves —
(1) that
copies of the work have been imported into or publicly distributed in the United
States in violation of this section by or with the authority of the owner of such
exclusive rights; and
(2) that the infringing copies
were manufactured in the United States or Canada in accordance with the provisions
of subsection (c); and
(3) that the infringement was
commenced before the effective date of registration for an authorized edition
of the work, the copies of which have been manufactured in the United States or
Canada in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c).
(e)
In any action for infringement of the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute
copies of a work containing material required by this section to be manufactured
in the United States or Canada, the copyright owner shall set forth in the complaint
the names of the persons or organizations who performed the processes specified
by subsection (c) with respect to that material, and the places where those processes
were performed.
(a) Importation
into the United States, without the authority of the owner of copyright under
this title, of copies or phonorecords of a work that have been acquired outside
the United States is an infringement of the exclusive right to distribute copies
or phonorecords under section 106, actionable under section 501. This subsection
does not apply to —
(1) importation of copies or phonorecords
under the authority or for the use of the Government of the United States or of
any State or political subdivision of a State, but not including copies or phonorecords
for use in schools, or copies of any audiovisual work imported for purposes other
than archival use;
(2) importation, for the private
use of the importer and not for distribution, by any person with respect to no
more than one copy or phonorecord of any one work at any one time, or by any person
arriving from outside the United States with respect to copies or phonorecords
forming part of such person's personal baggage; or
(3)
importation by or for an organization operated for scholarly, educational, or
religious purposes and not for private gain, with respect to no more than one
copy of an audiovisual work solely for its archival purposes, and no more than
five copies or phonorecords of any other work for its library lending or archival
purposes, unless the importation of such copies or phonorecords is part of an
activity consisting of systematic reproduction or distribution, engaged in by
such organization in violation of the provisions of section 108(g)(2).
(b)
In a case where the making of the copies or phonorecords would have constituted
an infringement of copyright if this title had been applicable, their importation
is prohibited. In a case where the copies or phonorecords were lawfully made,
the United States Customs Service has no authority to prevent their importation
unless the provisions of section 601 are applicable. In either case, the Secretary
of the Treasury is authorized to prescribe, by regulation, a procedure under which
any person claiming an interest in the copyright in a particular work may, upon
payment of a specified fee, be entitled to notification by the Customs Service
of the importation of articles that appear to be copies or phonorecords of the
work.
(a)
The Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Postal Service shall separately
or jointly make regulations for the enforcement of the provisions of this title
prohibiting importation.
(b) These regulations may require,
as a condition for the exclusion of articles under section 602 —
(1)
that the person seeking exclusion obtain a court order enjoining importation of
the articles; or
(2) that the person seeking exclusion
furnish proof, of a specified nature and in accordance with prescribed procedures,
that the copyright in which such person claims an interest is valid and that the
importation would violate the prohibition in section 602; the person seeking exclusion
may also be required to post a surety bond for any injury that may result if the
detention or exclusion of the articles proves to be unjustified.
(c)
Articles imported in violation of the importation prohibitions of this title are
subject to seizure and forfeiture in the same manner as property imported in violation
of the customs revenue laws. Forfeited articles shall be destroyed as directed
by the Secretary of the Treasury or the court, as the case may be.
1In 1982, section 601(a) was amended
in the first sentence by substituting “1986” for “1982.” Pub. L. No. 97-215,
96 Stat. 178.
2The Anticounterfeiting Consumer
Protection Act of 1996 amended the last sentence of section 603(c) by deleting
the semicolon and all text immediately following the words “as the case may
be.” Pub. L. No. 104-153, 110 Stat. 1386, 1388.
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