Statutory damages are
calculated damages, and can often run very high??”up to $150,000 per offense. The
law also states that if the ???infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe
that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright,??? then the amount is
reduced to $200 per offense.5 Actual damages, by contrast, are damages actually
incurred from the copyright infringement. This is usually a nominal amount, and
difficult to calculate. Thus statutory damages (which are the kind the RIAA claims
when suing individuals for downloading MP3s) are the favored weapon of lawyers.
Pursuing legal action against infringing parties requires legal help. As stated before, companies
often do not know that they are using another business??™s design or content, and
will be more than happy to change this once they are informed that they are in fact breaking
the law. Even companies that know they are using someone else??™s work often back
down after receiving a strongly worded letter from a lawyer??™s office. Companies that
refuse, or claim the copyright belongs to them, require further legal action.
WEB DESIGN AND MARKETING SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES
274
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