Title 17, CopyrightsRelease 119-110

§1309 Infringement

Title 17 › CHAPTER 13 — PROTECTION OF ORIGINAL DESIGNS › § 1309

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

It makes it illegal to copy a protected design and then make, import, sell, or distribute items with that copied design in the United States during the protection period, unless the design owner agrees. A seller or distributor who did not make or import the item is only treated as infringing if they encouraged or secretly helped the maker or importer, or if they refuse to tell the owner where they got the item and then order more after getting notice by registered or certified mail that the design is protected. An item is “infringing” if its design was copied from a protected design without permission; pictures or ads of the design are not infringing. It is not infringement if the copier didn’t know the design was protected, or if someone used an infringing part in a product during normal business without knowing. If a party claims a design is original, they must prove it when the other side shows an earlier identical or very similar work. Reproducing a design just for teaching, testing, or studying it is allowed.

Full Legal Text

Title 17, §1309

Copyrights, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Acts of Infringement.—

Except as provided in subsection (b), it shall be infringement of the exclusive rights in a design protected under this chapter for any person, without the consent of the owner of the design, within the United States and during the term of such protection, to—

(1)make, have made, or import, for sale or for use in trade, any infringing article as defined in subsection (e); or

(2)sell or distribute for sale or for use in trade any such infringing article.

(b)Acts of Sellers and Distributors.—

A seller or distributor of an infringing article who did not make or import the article shall be deemed to have infringed on a design protected under this chapter only if that person—

(1)induced or acted in collusion with a manufacturer to make, or an importer to import such article, except that merely purchasing or giving an order to purchase such article in the ordinary course of business shall not of itself constitute such inducement or collusion; or

(2)refused or failed, upon the request of the owner of the design, to make a prompt and full disclosure of that person’s source of such article, and that person orders or reorders such article after receiving notice by registered or certified mail of the protection subsisting in the design.

(c)Acts Without Knowledge.—

It shall not be infringement under this section to make, have made, import, sell, or distribute, any article embodying a design which was created without knowledge that a design was protected under this chapter and was copied from such protected design.

(d)Acts in Ordinary Course of Business.—

A person who incorporates into that person’s product of manufacture an infringing article acquired from others in the ordinary course of business, or who, without knowledge of the protected design embodied in an infringing article, makes or processes the infringing article for the account of another person in the ordinary course of business, shall not be deemed to have infringed the rights in that design under this chapter except under a condition contained in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b). Accepting an order or reorder from the source of the infringing article shall be deemed ordering or reordering within the meaning of subsection (b)(2).

(e)Infringing Article Defined.—

As used in this section, an “infringing article” is any article the design of which has been copied from a design protected under this chapter, without the consent of the owner of the protected design. An infringing article is not an illustration or picture of a protected design in an advertisement, book, periodical, newspaper, photograph, broadcast, motion picture, or similar medium. A design shall not be deemed to have been copied from a protected design if it is original and not substantially similar in appearance to a protected design.

(f)Establishing Originality.—

The party to any action or proceeding under this chapter who alleges rights under this chapter in a design shall have the burden of establishing the design’s originality whenever the opposing party introduces an earlier work which is identical to such design, or so similar as to make prima facie showing that such design was copied from such work.

(g)Reproduction for Teaching or Analysis.—

It is not an infringement of the exclusive rights of a design owner for a person to reproduce the design in a useful article or in any other form solely for the purpose of teaching, analyzing, or evaluating the appearance, concepts, or techniques embodied in the design, or the function of the useful article embodying the design.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

17 U.S.C. § 1309

Title 17, Copyrights

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110