> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark-fy2016/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:28:21.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:28:21.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2016, 84 people were sentenced in federal court with §2B5.3 as the primary guideline. 44 (52%) received a prison term with a median of 16 months, and 24 (29%) received probation only. Restitution was ordered for 57 people (68%). - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark/) › §2B5.3: FY2016 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2016, 84 people were sentenced in federal court with §2B5.3 as the primary guideline. 44 (52%) received a prison term with a median of 16 months, and 24 (29%) received probation only. Restitution was ordered for 57 people (68%). Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 84 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016\. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. It is part of the [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Prison, Probation, and Restitution in Fiscal Year 2016 Guideline §2B5.3 is titled "Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 84 people in fiscal year 2016 whose primary guideline was §2B5.3\. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. 44 of the 84 (52%) were sentenced to prison. 24 (29%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 16 months. A quarter received 36.2 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. Restitution was ordered for 57 people (68%), and a fine for 15 (18%). Supervised release after prison was ordered for 36 (43%), with a median term of 36 months. ## How the Cases Ended 83 of the 84 people (99%) pleaded guilty. One person was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement and 4% were straight pleas with no agreement. The median prison term was 16 months after a guilty plea and 12 months after a trial. The trial figure comes from a single person and cannot be compared with the plea figure in any general way. The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in its files. ## Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range 24% of the 84 people (20) were sentenced within the guideline range. 36% (30) were sentenced below it at the government's request, and 40% (34) were sentenced below it without a government request. No one was sentenced above the range. The within-range share for fiscal year 2016 was lower than the share for every guideline that year, which was 49%. It was higher than the all-years share under §2B5.3, which is 19%. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 84 people (0%). | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 84 | 16 months | 99% | | 2017 | 82 | 17 months | 94% | | 2018 | 70 | 12 months | 99% | | 2019 | 47 | 12 months | 100% | | 2020 | 37 | 10 months | 100% | | 2021 | 36 | 12 months | 100% | | 2022 | 24 | 4 months | 100% | | 2023 | 44 | 24 months | 89% | | 2024 | 35 | 12 months | 100% | | 2025 | 40 | 12 months | 85% | ## Criminal History 75% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest. None (0%) were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so this measure has no military counterpart. ## Context From All Years and All Guidelines Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 499 people were sentenced under §2B5.3\. 58% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 96% pleaded guilty. The fiscal year 2016 median of 16 months was higher than that all-years median. The next year, fiscal year 2017, had 82 people under this guideline, a median prison term of 17 months, and 17% sentenced within the range. In fiscal year 2016, 67,742 people were sentenced in federal court under all guidelines. Their median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The Commission's offense type for the 84 cases here is Forgery/Counter/Copyright. ## What the Records Do Not Show Federal fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016\. Prison terms are the terms imposed and not the time served. The table lists the yearly counts, and each year is a separate group. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The records do not describe the conduct in any case or explain why a sentence was chosen. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.3 (84), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30\. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records. ### What to Keep in Mind **No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct.** Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987\. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served. **Federal supervised release.** Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial. **Who decides the sentence, and under what rules.** Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart. **Time periods.** Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually. **How life sentences and "time served" are counted.** In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less. ## Related Analysis - [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark/) (overview) - [§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark-fy2017/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) **About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.