United States copyrightstatutory penalties

Backus v. Gould

48 U.S. (7 How.) 798 (1849)

JurisdictionUnited States

CourtSupreme Court of the United States

Year1849

StatusBinding authority

Key Principle

Under the penalty provision of the Copyright Act of 1831, the statutory forfeiture of fifty cents per sheet for copyright infringement is limited to the infringing sheets found in the defendant's possession (printed or being printed, published or exposed for sale), not the total number of infringing copies the defendant ever printed.

Area of Law

Constitutional / Public Law

Related Cases

Bondi v. VanDerStok 604 U.S. 458 (2025)

Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP 602 U.S. 1 (2024)

Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission 598 U.S. 175 (2023)

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