17 Usc 603

TITLE 17—COPYRIGHTS

§ 603

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) IMPORT PROHIBITION.—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, United States
Customs and Border Protection has no authority
to prevent their importation. 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
United States Customs and Border Protection of
the importation of articles that appear to be
copies or phonorecords of the work.
(Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat.
2589; Pub. L. 110–403, title I, § 105(b), (c)(1), Oct.
13, 2008, 122 Stat. 4259, 4260; Pub. L. 111–295, § 4(c),
Dec. 9, 2010, 124 Stat. 3181.)
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
HOUSE REPORT NO. 94–1476

Scope of the Section. Section 602, which has nothing
to do with the manufacturing requirements of section
601, deals with two separate situations: importation of
‘‘piratical’’ articles (that is, copies or phonorecords
made without any authorization of the copyright
owner), and unauthorized importation of copies or
phonorecords that were lawfully made. The general approach of section 602 is to make unauthorized importation an act of infringement in both cases, but to permit
the United States Customs Service to prohibit importation only of ‘‘piratical’’ articles.
Section 602(a) first states the general rule that unauthorized importation is an infringement merely if the
copies or phonorecords ‘‘have been acquired outside the
United States’’, but then enumerates three specific exceptions: (1) importation under the authority or for the
use of a governmental body, but not including material
for use in schools or copies of an audiovisual work imported for any purpose other than archival use; (2) importation for the private use of the importer of no more
than one copy or phonorecord of a work at a time, or
of articles in the personal baggage of travelers from
abroad; or (3) importation by nonprofit organizations
‘‘operated for scholarly, educational, or religious purposes’’ of ‘‘no more than one copy of an audiovisual
work solely for archival purposes, and no more than
five copies or phonorecords of any other work for its library lending or archival purposes.’’ The bill specifies
that the third exception does not apply if the importation ‘‘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).’’
If none of the three exemptions applies, any unauthorized importer of copies or phonorecords acquired
abroad could be sued for damages and enjoined from
making any use of them, even before any public distribution in this country has taken place.
Importation of ‘‘Piratical’’ Copies. Section 602(b) retains the present statute’s prohibition against importation of ‘‘piratical’’ copies or phonorecords—those whose
making ‘‘would have constituted an infringement of
copyright if this title has been applicable.’’ Thus, the
Customs Service could exclude copies or phonorecords

Page 156

that were unlawful in the country where they were
made; it could also exclude copies or phonorecords
which, although made lawfully under the domestic law
of that country, would have been unlawful if the U.S.
copyright law could have been applied. A typical example would be a work by an American author which is in
the public domain in a foreign country because that
country does not have copyright relations with the
United States; the making and publication of an authorized edition would be lawful in that country, but
the Customs Service could prevent the importation of
any copies of that edition.
Importation for Infringing Distribution. The second
situation covered by section 602 is that where the copies or phonorecords were lawfully made but their distribution in the United States would infringe the U.S.
copyright owner’s exclusive rights. As already said, the
mere act of importation in this situation would constitute an act of infringement and could be enjoined.
However, in cases of this sort it would be impracticable
for the United States Customs Service to attempt to
enforce the importation prohibition, and section 602(b)
provides that, unless a violation of the manufacturing
requirements is also involved, the Service has no authority to prevent importation, ‘‘where the copies or
phonorecords were lawfully made.’’ The subsection
would authorize the establishment of a procedure under
which copyright owners could arrange for the Customs
Service to notify them wherever articles appearing to
infringe their works are imported.
AMENDMENTS
2010—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 111–295 struck out ‘‘unless
the provisions of section 601 are applicable’’ after ‘‘prevent their importation’’ in second sentence.
2008—Pub. L. 110–403, § 105(c)(1)(A), inserted ‘‘or exportation’’ after ‘‘importation’’ in section catchline.
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 110–403, § 105(b), inserted heading,
designated introductory provisions as par. (1), struck
out ‘‘This subsection does not apply to—’’ at end in par.
(1), added par. (2) and par. (3) designation, heading, and
introductory provisions, redesignated former pars. (1)
to (3) as subpars. (A) to (C) of par. (3), respectively, and
realigned margins, inserted ‘‘or exportation’’ after ‘‘importation’’ in par. (3)(A), and substituted ‘‘importation
or exportation, for the private use of the importer or
exporter’’ for ‘‘importation, for the private use of the
importer’’ and inserted ‘‘or departing from the United
States’’ after ‘‘United States’’ in par. (3)(B).
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–403, § 105(c)(1)(B), inserted
heading and substituted ‘‘United States Customs and
Border Protection has’’ for ‘‘the United States Customs
Service has’’ and ‘‘United States Customs and Border
Protection of’’ for ‘‘the Customs Service of’’.

§ 603. Importation prohibitions: Enforcement and
disposition of excluded articles
(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

Page 157

TITLE 17—COPYRIGHTS

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.
(Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat.
2590; Pub. L. 104–153, § 8, July 2, 1996, 110 Stat.
1388.)
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
HOUSE REPORT NO. 94–1476

The importation prohibitions of both sections 601 and
602 would be enforced under section 603, which is similar to section 109 of the statute now in effect [section
109 of former title 17]. Subsection (a) would authorize
the Secretary of the Treasury and the United States
Postal Service to make regulations for this purpose,
and subsection (c) provides for the disposition of excluded articles.
Subsection (b) of section 603 deals only with the prohibition against importation of ‘‘piratical’’ copies or
phonorecords, and is aimed at solving problems that
have arisen under the present statute. Since the United
States Customs Service is often in no position to make
determinations as to whether particular articles are
‘‘piratical,’’ section 603(b) would permit the Customs
regulations to require the person seeking exclusion either to obtain a court order enjoining importation, or
to furnish proof of his claim and to post bond.
AMENDMENTS
1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–153 substituted a period
at end for ‘‘; however, the articles may be returned to
the country of export whenever it is shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that the importer had no reasonable grounds for believing that his
or her acts constituted a violation of law.’’

CHAPTER 7—COPYRIGHT OFFICE
Sec.

701.
702.
703.
704.
705.
706.
707.
708.
709.
[710.

The Copyright Office: General responsibilities
and organization.
Copyright Office regulations.
Effective date of actions in Copyright Office.
Retention and disposition of articles deposited in Copyright Office.
Copyright Office records: Preparation, maintenance, public inspection, and searching.
Copies of Copyright Office records.
Copyright Office forms and publications.
Copyright Office fees.
Delay in delivery caused by disruption of
postal or other services.
Repealed.]
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
HOUSE REPORT NO. 94–1476

Chapter 7 entitled ‘‘Copyright Office,’’ sets forth the
administrative and housekeeping provisions of the bill.
Administrative Procedure Act. Under an amendment
to section 701 adopted by the Committee, the Copyright
Office is made fully subject to the Administrative Procedure Act [5 U.S.C. 551 et seq. and 701 et seq.] with one
exception: under section 706(b), reproduction and distribution of copyright deposit copies would be made
under the Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C. 552]
only to the extent permitted by the Copyright Office
regulations.
Retention and Disposition of Deposited Articles. A recurring problem in the administration of the copyright

§ 603

law has been the need to reconcile the storage limitations of the Copyright Office with the continued value
of deposits in identifying copyrighted works. Aside
from its indisputable utility to future historians and
scholars, a substantially complete collection of both
published and unpublished deposits, other than those
selected by the Library of Congress, would avoid the
many difficulties encountered when copies needed for
identification in connection with litigation or other
purposes have been destroyed. The basic policy behind
section 704 is that copyright deposits should be retained as long as possible, but that the Register of
Copyrights and the Librarian of Congress should be empowered to dispose of them under appropriate safeguards when they decide that it has become necessary
to do so.
Under subsection (a) of section 704, any copy, phonorecord, or identifying material deposited for registration, whether registered or not, becomes ‘‘the property
of the United States Government.’’ This means that
the copyright owner or person who made the deposit
cannot demand its return as a matter of right, even in
rejection cases, although the provisions of section 407
and 408 are flexible enough to allow for special arrangements in exceptional cases. On the other hand, Government ownership of deposited articles under section
704(a) carries with it no privileges under the copyright
itself; use of a deposited article in violation of the
copyright owner’s exclusive rights would be infringement.
With respect to published works, section 704(b) makes
all deposits available to the Library of Congress ‘‘for
its collections, or for exchanges or transfer to any
other library’’; where the work is unpublished, the Library is authorized to select any deposit for its own
collections or for transfer to the National Archives of
the United States or to a Federal records center.
Motion picture producers have expressed some concern lest the right to transfer copies of works, such as
motion pictures, that have been published under rental,
lease, or loan arrangements, might lead to abuse. However, the Library of Congress has not knowingly transferred works of this sort to other libraries in the past,
and there is no reason to expect it to do so in the future.
The Committee added a new subsection (c) to section
704, under which the Register is authorized to make
microfilm or other record copies of copyright deposits
before transferring or otherwise disposing of them.
For deposits not selected by the Library, subsection
(d) provides that they, or ‘‘identifying portions or reproductions of them,’’ are to be retained under Copyright Office control ‘‘for the longest period considered
practicable and desirable’’ by the Register and the Librarian. When and if they ultimately decide that retention of certain deposited articles is no longer ‘‘practicable and desirable,’’ the Register and Librarian have
joint discretion to order their ‘‘destruction or other
disposition.’’ Because of the unique value and irreplaceable nature of unpublished deposits, the subsection prohibits their intentional destruction during
their copyright term, unless a facsimile reproduction
has been made.
Subsection (e) of section 704 establishes a new procedure under which a copyright owner can request retention of deposited material for the full term of copyright. The Register of Copyrights is authorized to issue
regulations prescribing the fees for this service and the
‘‘conditions under which such requests are to be made
and granted.’’
Catalog of Copyright Entries. Section 707(a) of the bill
retains the present statute’s basis requirement that the
Register compile and publish catalogs of all copyright
registrations at periodic intervals, but provides for
‘‘discretion to determine, on the basis of practicability
and usefulness the form and frequency of publication of
each particular part’’. This provision will in no way diminish the utility or value of the present catalogs, and
the flexibility of approach, coupled with use of the new
mechanical and electronic devices now becoming available, will avoid waste and result in a better product.