Title 17CopyrightsRelease 119-73

§911 Civil actions

Title 17 › Chapter CHAPTER 9— - PROTECTION OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP PRODUCTS › § 911

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Courts can order temporary or long‑term stops to prevent people from copying mask works. If a court decides someone copied a mask work, the winner must get the real money they lost and the copier’s profits that came from the copying. To show the copier’s profits, the winner only needs to show the copier’s total sales. The copier must show which expenses and other reasons explain part of those sales. Before the final decision, the winner can choose instead to get statutory money damages up to $250,000 for each mask work for which an infringer is liable. A lawsuit must start within three years after the claim began. While a case is pending, a court can order impounding of the infringing chips and any masks, tapes, or tools used to make them, and at the end can order destruction or other disposal. The court may also award full costs and reasonable lawyer fees to the winner. States and state officials cannot use sovereign immunity to avoid these suits and are subject to the same remedies as others.

Full Legal Text

Title 17, §911

Copyrights — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Any court having jurisdiction of a civil action arising under this chapter may grant temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and permanent injunctions on such terms as the court may deem reasonable to prevent or restrain infringement of the exclusive rights in a mask work under this chapter.
(b)Upon finding an infringer liable, to a person entitled under section 910(b)(1) to institute a civil action, for an infringement of any exclusive right under this chapter, the court shall award such person actual damages suffered by the person as a result of the infringement. The court shall also award such person the infringer’s profits that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the award of actual damages. In establishing the infringer’s profits, such person is required to present proof only of the infringer’s gross revenue, and the infringer is required to prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the mask work.
(c)At any time before final judgment is rendered, a person entitled to institute a civil action for infringement may elect, instead of actual damages and profits as provided by subsection (b), an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one mask work for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in an amount not more than $250,000 as the court considers just.
(d)An action for infringement under this chapter shall be barred unless the action is commenced within three years after the claim accrues.
(e)(1)At any time while an action for infringement of the exclusive rights in a mask work under this chapter is pending, the court may order the impounding, on such terms as it may deem reasonable, of all semiconductor chip products, and any drawings, tapes, masks, or other products by means of which such products may be reproduced, that are claimed to have been made, imported, or used in violation of those exclusive rights. Insofar as practicable, applications for orders under this paragraph shall be heard and determined in the same manner as an application for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction.
(2)As part of a final judgment or decree, the court may order the destruction or other disposition of any infringing semiconductor chip products, and any masks, tapes, or other articles by means of which such products may be reproduced.
(f)In any civil action arising under this chapter, the court in its discretion may allow the recovery of full costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, to the prevailing party.
(g)(1)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 the owner of a mask work under this chapter, or for any other violation under this chapter.
(2)In a suit described in paragraph (1) for a violation described in that paragraph, 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 actual damages and profits under subsection (b), statutory damages under subsection (c), impounding and disposition of infringing articles under subsection (e), and costs and attorney’s fees under subsection (f).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1990—Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 101–553 added subsec. (g).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

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

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

17 U.S.C. § 911

Title 17Copyrights

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73