U.S. Code » Title 17 » Chapter CHAPTER 5— COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND REMEDIES

17 U.S.C. § 511

Liability of States, instrumentalities of States, and State officials for infringement of copyright

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(a)In General.—Any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a State or instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity, shall not be immune, under the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States or under any other doctrine of sovereign immunity, from suit in Federal court by any person, including any governmental or nongovernmental entity, for a violation of any of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner provided by sections 106 through 122, for importing copies of phonorecords in violation of section 602, or for any other violation under this title.(b)Remedies.—In a suit described in subsection (a) for a violation described in that subsection, remedies (including remedies both at law and in equity) are available for the violation to the same extent as such remedies are available for such a violation in a suit against any public or private entity other than a State, instrumentality of a State, or officer or employee of a State acting in his or her official capacity. Such remedies include impounding and disposition of infringing articles under section 503, actual damages and profits and statutory damages under section 504, costs and attorney’s fees under section 505, and the remedies provided in section 510.(Added Pub. L. 101–553, § 2(a)(2), Nov. 15, 1990, 104 Stat. 2749; amended Pub. L. 106–44, § 1(g)(6), Aug. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 222; Pub. L. 107–273, div. C, title III, § 13210(4)(C), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1909.)Editorial NotesConstitutionality

For information regarding the constitutionality of certain provisions of subsection (a) of this section, see the Table of Laws Held Unconstitutional in Whole or in Part by the Supreme Court on the Constitution Annotated website, constitution.congress.gov.

Amendments

2002—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 107–273 substituted “122” for “121”.

1999—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–44 substituted “121” for “119”.

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date

Section effective with respect to violations that occur on or after Nov. 15, 1990, see section 3 of Pub. L. 101–553, set out as an Effective Date of 1990 Amendment note under section 501 of this title.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 31 cases (8 in the last 5 years), 1993–2026 · leading case: College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board
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College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board (1999) SCOTUS · cites it 2× “§ 1122 (a) (subjecting States to suit for violation of Lanham Act); 17 U. S. C. § 511 (a) (subjecting States to suit for copyright infringement); and 35 U.”
Frederick Allen v. Roy Cooper (2018) 4th Cir. · cites it 2× “rolina filed a motion to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), maintaining that the institutional defendants and individual defendants in their official capacities were shielded from suit in federal court by sovereign immunity under the Eleventh…”
Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank (1999) SCOTUS · cites it 2× “§ 1403 (a) (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act); 17 U. S. C. § 511 (Copyright Remedy Clarification Act).”
Issaenko v. University of Minnesota (2014) D. Minn. · cites it 4× “17 U.S.C. § 511 (a); see also 17 U.S.C. § 501 (a) (“Any State, and any such instrumentality, officer, or employee, shall be subject to the provisions of this title in the same manner and to the same extent as any nongovernmental entity.”
TC Reiner v. Canale (2018) E.D. Mich. · cites it 4× “In 1990, Congress enacted a statute purporting to expressly abrogate state sovereign immunity from copyright infringement claims: *747 the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (" CRCA "), 17 U.S.C. § 511 (a). The CRCA provides: Any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any…”
National Ass'n of Boards of Pharmacy v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (2011) 11th Cir. · cites it 2× “The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (“NABP”) seeks damages and injunctive relief under the Copyright Remedies Clarification Act, 17 U.S.C. § 511 (a) (the “CRCA”), against the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (the “Board of Regents”), its members…”
Allen v. Cooper (2020) SCOTUS “The Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (CRCA or Act) provides that a State "shall not be immune, under the Eleventh Amendment [or] any other doctrine of sovereign immunity, from suit in Federal court" for copyright infringement.”
Rodriguez v. Texas Commission on the Arts (2000) 5th Cir. · cites it 4× “Because we find that the Copyright Clarification Act, 17 U.S.C. § 511 (1994), does not abrogate a state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity pursuant to a valid exercise of congressional power, we AFFIRM.”
Financial Oversight and Management Bd. for P. R. v. Centro De Periodismo Investigativo, Inc. (2023) SCOTUS “§ 296 (a); 17 U. S. C. § 511 (a). Those provisions, we have noted, “could not have made any clearer Congress's in- tent” to abrogate immunity.”
Jacobs v. MEMPHIS CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU (2010) W.D. Tenn. · cites it 3× “The language enacted with passage of the Act and now codified at 17 U.S.C. § 511 10 provides as follows: (a) In General.”
Rodriguez v. Texas Commission on the Arts (1998) N.D. Tex. · cites it 2× “17 U.S.C. § 511 (a); Unix Sys. Lab., Inc.”
Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Inc. v. FOMB (2022) 1st Cir. “994, 999, 1001 (2020) (alteration in original) (quoting 17 U.S.C. § 511 (a)). Such language is conspicuously absent from PROMESA § 106.”
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