AB 819

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law makes it a crime for a person to willfully manufacture, intentionally sell, or knowingly possess for sale any counterfeit mark registered with the Secretary of State or registered on the Principal Register of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Existing law imposes specified imprisonment and fines based upon the number of counterfeit marks involved in the offense and if the person is an individual or a business entity. Existing law also specifies certain imprisonment and fines for a subsequent conviction of this offense and provides other specified penalties if the conduct that was the basis of the conviction has directly and foreseeably caused death or great bodily injury to another through reliance on the counterfeited item for its intended purpose. Existing law makes it a crime for a person to knowingly and willfully transfer or cause to be transferred any sounds that have been recorded on a phonograph record, disc, wire, tape, film, or other article on which sounds are recorded, with intent to sell or cause to be sold, or to use or cause to be used for commercial advantage or private financial gain through public performance, the article on which the sounds are so transferred, without the consent of the owner. Existing law specifies certain penalties for a violation of these provisions, and certain other provisions regarding the transportation of an article with the knowledge that the sounds thereon have been so transferred without the consent of the owner, if the offense involves the transfer or transportation, or conduct causing that transfer or transportation, of not less than 1,000 of the articles. Existing law also specifies certain other penalties for any other violation of these provisions and for a 2nd or subsequent conviction. Existing law makes it a crime for any person to transport or cause to be transported for monetary or other consideration within the state, any article containing sounds of a live performance with the knowledge that the sounds thereon have been recorded or mastered without the consent of the owner of the sounds of the live performance. Existing law specifies certain penalties for a violation of these provisions if the offense involves transporting or causing to be transported not less than 1,000 articles. Existing law also specifies certain other penalties for any other violation of these provisions and for a 2nd or subsequent conviction. Existing law makes it a crime for any person to record or master or cause to be recorded or mastered on any article, with the intent to sell for commercial advantage or private financial gain, the sounds of a live performance with the knowledge that the sounds thereon have been recorded or mastered without the consent of the owner of the sounds of the live performance. Existing law specifies certain penalties for a violation of these provisions if the offense involves the recording, mastering, or causing the recording or mastering of at least 1,000 articles. Existing law also specifies certain other penalties for any other violation of these provisions and for a 2nd or subsequent conviction. Existing law provides that a person is guilty of failure to disclose the origin of a recording or audiovisual work if, for commercial advantage or private financial gain, he or she knowingly advertises, sells, rents, manufactures, or possesses for those purposes, a recording or audiovisual work that does not disclose the name of the manufacturer, author, artist, performer, or producer, as specified. Failure to disclose the origin of a recording or audiovisual work is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail, imprisonment in the state prison, or a fine, or by both imprisonment and a fine, as specified, depending on the number of articles of audio recordings or audiovisual works involved, and whether the offense is a first offense, or 2nd or subsequent offense. Existing law provides that every person who operates a recording device in a motion picture theater while a motion picture is being exhibited, for the purpose of recording a theatrical motion picture and without the express written authority of the owner of the motion picture theater, is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,500, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would double the fines that may be imposed for a violation of any of the above provisions. Statutory law that became inoperative on January 1, 2010, provided that it was a crime, punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,500, imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment for a person located in California who knew that a particular recording or audiovisual work was commercial, to knowingly electronically disseminate all or substantially all of that commercial recording or audiovisual work to more than 10 other people without disclosing his or her e-mail address, and the title of the recording or audiovisual work. That statutory law also provided that a minor who violated these provisions was punishable by a fine not exceeding $250 for a first or 2nd offense and by a fine not exceeding $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail, or by both that fine and imprisonment for a 3rd or subsequent violation. This bill would again make operative those provisions and would double the fines that may be imposed for a violation of those provisions. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides that, in addition to any other penalty or fine, a court shall order any person who has been convicted of any violation of certain provisions of law relating to the transfer or transportation of misappropriated recorded music, the transportation of an article containing unauthorized recordation of sounds of live performances, the unauthorized recording of sounds of live performances, or the failure to disclose the origin of a recording or audiovisual work to make restitution to the owner or lawful producer, or trade association acting on behalf of the owner or lawful producer, of the phonograph record, disc, wire, tape, film, or other device or article from which the sound or visual images were derived that suffered economic loss resulting from the violation. Existing law provides how value is to be determined for the purpose of calculating restitution. This bill would also require a court to order restitution when the person has been convicted of violating certain other provisions of law relating to the manufacture or sale of a counterfeit registered mark and the electronic transmission of all or substantially all of a commercial recording or audiovisual work. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 653w of the Penal Code proposed by SB 830, contingent on the prior enactment of that bill. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.