Infringement Remedies (or penalties from the perspective of the defendent)

   A court with jurisdiction over copyright civil actions may grant reasonable temporary and final injunctions, as appropriate, to prevent or  restrain infringement of a copyright.

   While court actions are pending, the court may impound any copies of the copyrighted work that have been claimed to have been made or used in the infringement. If infringement is proven, the court may order destruction of any copies of the copyrighted work.

The copyright infringer may be liable for

1. the copyright owner's actual damages and any additional profits  of the infringer, or  
2. statutory damages.

 Attorney's fees may be awarded by a court to whichever party wins. Statutory damages and attorney's fees cannot be awarded to the plaintiff if, at the time of the infringement,  the work is unpublished or the work is published, but not yet registered with the copyright office. (The only exception to this is if the infringement occurs  right after the work is first published and the work is subsequently registered with the copyright office within three months of first  being published.)

Infringement in some circumstances where the infringer makes a profit  may be a criminal offense. The copyright statute of limitations is five years  for criminal offenses and three years for civil claims.