Options for determining if a work is under copyright protection:
Contacting the copyright holder directly:
1. Your copies and equipment may be seized.
2. You may be required to reimburse losses incurred by copyright holder, or pay back profits you gained.
3. The owner can seek monetary damages of up to $30,000 per work infringed [17 U.S.C. Sec. 504(c)(1)]. In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000.
4. You may have to pay attorney fees and costs of litigation.
To be eligible for statutory damages and attorney fees, the work generally must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement occurred. In the case of a published work, the Copyright Act allows a grace period of 3 months after first publication to make the registration (17 U.S.C. Sec. 412(2)). Registration can occur well after publication, but the owner will qualify for the added rights only for infringements occurring after the registration date. Even if statutory damages are eliminated, you can still be subject to all other remedies such as actual damages and injunctions.
5. If you have willfully infringed a protected work, you may face criminal penalties and federal prison time.
Crews, Kenneth. Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators. Chicago: American Library Association, 2012. Print.
A State University of New York College
Sponsored by Rensselaer County