Federal · Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

18 U.S.C. § 2319C: Illicit digital transmission services

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

Federal law prohibiting operation of digital transmission services designed to publicly perform copyrighted works without authorization, punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment, or up to 10 years if involving works prepared for commercial performance.

Read the full statutory text
the terms “audiovisual work”, “computer program”, “copies”, “copyright owner”, “digital transmission”, “financial gain”, “motion picture”, “motion picture exhibition facility”, “perform”, “phonorecords”, “publicly” (with respect to performing a work), “sound recording”, and “transmit” have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of title 17 ; the term “digital transmission service” means a service that has the primary purpose of publicly performing works by digital transmission; the terms “publicly perform” and “public performance” refer to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner under paragraphs (4) and (6) of section 106 (relating to exclusive rights in copyrighted works) of title 17, as limited by sections 107 through 122 of title 17; and the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation of commercial public performance; and the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially publicly performed in the United States by or with the authorization of the copyright owner; or has been made available for viewing in a motion picture exhibition facility; and has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public in the United States by or with the authorization of the copyright owner in a format intended to permit viewing outside a motion picture exhibition facility; or had not been commercially publicly performed in the United States by or with the authorization of the copyright owner more than 24 hours before the unauthorized public performance. is primarily designed or provided for the purpose of publicly performing works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law; has no commercially significant purpose or use other than to publicly perform works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law; or is intentionally marketed by or at the direction of that person to promote its use in publicly performing works protected under title 17 by means of a digital transmission without the authority of the copyright owner or the law. fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both; the offense was committed in connection with 1 or more works being prepared for commercial public performance; and the person knew or should have known that the work was being prepared for commercial public performance; and fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both, if the offense is a second or subsequent offense under this section or section 2319(a). affect the interpretation of any other provision of civil copyright law, including the limitations of liability set forth in section 512 of title 17 , or principles of secondary liability; or prevent any Federal or State authority from enforcing cable theft or theft of service laws that are not subject to preemption under section 301 of title 17 .

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.