A State-by-State Commitment

State laws complement federal copyright laws to provide effective tools for state and local law enforcement in safeguarding intellectual property rights.

Anti-Camcorder Statutes
More than 40 states, as well as D.C and Puerto Rico, have laws against the use of a recording device in a theater. This allows state and local authorities to arrest and prosecute individuals who steal movies off of the screen in theaters. These laws, with penalties ranging from high misdemeanors to felonies, are directly aimed at theft of movies in the theater, which is the number one source of illegal copies of movies both sold on the street and distributed on the Internet. Here is a map of camcorder laws by state.

Communications Theft Laws
Nine states have laws which complement existing state statutes governing theft of cable and telecommunicationss. These newer laws prohibit the theft of new digital services, including online delivery systems for watching film and TV shows. The laws prevent unauthorized access to those services and include criminal and civil penalties.

True Name and Address Statutes
45 states have "True Name and Address" statutes which can be used to combat illegal home video sales. These laws impose criminal penalties for the rental or sale of home videos or DVDs of film and TV shows that do not bear the true name and address of the manufacturer. These statutes aid the prosecurtion of individuals who sell unauthorized copies of movies, TV shows and other copyrighted creative works.

Electronic True Name and Address Law
In 2004, California enacted the first "electronic true name and address law," which makes it a crime to make available for electronic dissemination or to disseminate to more than 10 persons a motion picture, sound recording or video game file without including a valid e-mail address.

Trademark Law
State trademark law, which differs from state to state, is also a valuable tool in prosecuting those who traffic in counterfeit movies and seek to mislead or confuse consumers, for example, by misappropriating the company logos of leading U.S. studios.