Section 504(c)(1) of the U.S. Copyright Act states that a "copyright owner may elect … to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work …."
Fifth Circuit Rejects Majority 'Independent Economic Value' Test for Infringement Damages
Most of the federal circuit courts that have addressed what qualifies either as a "compilation" or as a single creative work apply an "independent economic value" analysis that looks at the market worth of the single creation as of the time when an infringement occurs. But in a recent ruling of first impression, the Fifth Circuit rejected the "independent economic value" test in determining which individual sound recordings are eligible for their own statutory awards and which are part of compilation.
By
Stan Soocher
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