§ 1309. — Infringement.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 17USC1309]
TITLE 17--COPYRIGHTS
CHAPTER 13--PROTECTION OF ORIGINAL DESIGNS
Sec. 1309. Infringement
(a) Acts of Infringement.--Except as provided in subsection (b), it
shall be infringement of the exclusive rights in a design protected
under this chapter for any person, without the consent of the owner of
the design, within the United States and during the term of such
protection, to--
(1) make, have made, or import, for sale or for use in trade,
any infringing article as defined in subsection (e); or
(2) sell or distribute for sale or for use in trade any such
infringing article.
(b) Acts of Sellers and Distributors.--A seller or distributor of an
infringing article who did not make or import the article shall be
deemed to have infringed on a design protected under this chapter only
if that person--
(1) induced or acted in collusion with a manufacturer to make,
or an importer to import such article, except that merely purchasing
or giving an order to purchase such article in the ordinary course
of business shall not of itself constitute such inducement or
collusion; or
(2) refused or failed, upon the request of the owner of the
design, to make a prompt and full disclosure of that person's source
of such article, and that person orders or reorders such article
after receiving notice by registered or certified mail of the
protection subsisting in the design.
(c) Acts Without Knowledge.--It shall not be infringement under this
section to make, have made, import, sell, or distribute, any article
embodying a design which was created without knowledge that a design was
protected under this chapter and was copied from such protected design.
(d) Acts in Ordinary Course of Business.--A person who incorporates
into that person's product of manufacture an infringing article acquired
from others in the ordinary course of business, or who, without
knowledge of the protected design embodied in an infringing article,
makes or processes the infringing article for the account of another
person in the ordinary course of business, shall not be deemed to have
infringed the rights in that design under this chapter except under a
condition contained in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b). Accepting
an order or reorder from the source of the infringing article shall be
deemed ordering or reordering within the meaning of subsection (b)(2).
(e) Infringing Article Defined.--As used in this section, an
``infringing article'' is any article the design of which has been
copied from a design protected under this chapter, without the consent
of the owner of the protected design. An infringing article is not an
illustration or picture of a protected design in an advertisement, book,
periodical, newspaper, photograph, broadcast, motion picture, or similar
medium. A design shall not be deemed to have been copied from a
protected design if it is original and not substantially similar in
appearance to a protected design.
(f) Establishing Originality.--The party to any action or proceeding
under this chapter who alleges rights under this chapter in a design
shall have the burden of establishing the design's originality whenever
the opposing party introduces an earlier work which is identical to such
design, or so similar as to make prima facie showing that such design
was copied from such work.
(g) Reproduction for Teaching or Analysis.--It is not an
infringement of the exclusive rights of a design owner for a person to
reproduce the design in a useful article or in any other form solely for
the purpose of teaching, analyzing, or evaluating the appearance,
concepts, or techniques embodied in the design, or the function of the
useful article embodying the design.
(Added Pub. L. 105-304, title V, Sec. 502, Oct. 28, 1998, 112 Stat.
2908.)
