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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 501. Infringement of copyright
(a) Anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the
copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 122 or of the
author as provided in section 106A(a), or who imports copies or
phonorecords into the United States in violation of section 602, is
an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case
may be. For purposes of this chapter (other than section 506), any
reference to copyright shall be deemed to include the rights
conferred by section 106A(a). As used in this subsection, the term
"anyone" includes any State, any instrumentality of a State, and
any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State
acting in his or her official capacity. Any State, and any such
instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be subject to the
provisions of this title in the same manner and to the same extent
as any nongovernmental entity.
(b) The legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive right under a
copyright is entitled, subject to the requirements of section 411,
to institute an action for any infringement of that particular
right committed while he or she is the owner of it. The court may
require such owner to serve written notice of the action with a
copy of the complaint upon any person shown, by the records of the
Copyright Office or otherwise, to have or claim an interest in the
copyright, and shall require that such notice be served upon any
person whose interest is likely to be affected by a decision in the
case. The court may require the joinder, and shall permit the
intervention, of any person having or claiming an interest in the
copyright.
(c) For any secondary transmission by a cable system that
embodies a performance or a display of a work which is actionable
as an act of infringement under subsection (c) of section 111, a
television broadcast station holding a copyright or other license
to transmit or perform the same version of that work shall, for
purposes of subsection (b) of this section, be treated as a legal
or beneficial owner if such secondary transmission occurs within
the local service area of that television station.
(d) For any secondary transmission by a cable system that is
actionable as an act of infringement pursuant to section 111(c)(3),
the following shall also have standing to sue: (i) the primary
transmitter whose transmission has been altered by the cable
system; and (ii) any broadcast station within whose local service
area the secondary transmission occurs.
(e) With respect to any secondary transmission that is made by a
satellite carrier of a performance or display of a work embodied in
a primary transmission and is actionable as an act of infringement
under section 119(a)(5), a network station holding a copyright or
other license to transmit or perform the same version of that work
shall, for purposes of subsection (b) of this section, be treated
as a legal or beneficial owner if such secondary transmission
occurs within the local service area of that station.
(f)(1) With respect to any secondary transmission that is made by
a satellite carrier of a performance or display of a work embodied
in a primary transmission and is actionable as an act of
infringement under section 122, a television broadcast station
holding a copyright or other license to transmit or perform the
same version of that work shall, for purposes of subsection (b) of
this section, be treated as a legal or beneficial owner if such
secondary transmission occurs within the local market of that
station.
(2) A television broadcast station may file a civil action
against any satellite carrier that has refused to carry television
broadcast signals, as required under section 122(a)(2), to enforce
that television broadcast station's rights under section 338(a) of
the Communications Act of 1934.
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