§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, only 8 of the 70 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (11%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 47% were sentenced below the range without a government request. 30 people (43%) received a prison term, with a median of 12 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark › §2B5.3: FY2018
In brief: In fiscal year 2018, only 8 of the 70 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (11%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 47% were sentenced below the range without a government request. 30 people (43%) received a prison term, with a median of 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 70 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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 series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Few Sentences Were Within the Guideline Range
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded the range position for all 70 people whose primary guideline in fiscal year 2018 was §2B5.3. The Guidelines Manual titles this guideline "Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark."
Within the range: 11% (8 people). Below the range at the government's request: 41% (29). Below the range without a government request: 47% (33). Above the range: none.
The 11% within-range share was lower than the 19% all-years share for this guideline. It was also lower than the 51% share for every guideline in fiscal year 2018. In fiscal year 2017 the within-range share under §2B5.3 was 17%, and in fiscal year 2019 it was 26%.
| 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% |
Prison Terms and Probation
30 of the 70 people (43%) were sentenced to prison, and 23 (33%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 28.5 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not time served.
30 people (43%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 33 months. A fine was ordered for 16 (23%), and restitution for 30 (43%). No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 70 (0%).
Pleas
69 of the 70 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 person was convicted after a trial. 97% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
With only 1 trial conviction, no separate median prison term is reported for pleas and trials this year, so the records here do not allow that comparison. Only convicted and sentenced people are in the data. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted.
Criminal History
87% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 1% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Other Years and All Guidelines
Fiscal year 2017 had 82 people under §2B5.3 and a median prison term of 17 months. Fiscal year 2019 had 47 people and a median prison term of 12 months.
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 499 people were sentenced under this guideline. 58% went to prison, the median prison term was 12 months, and 96% pleaded guilty.
All guidelines together covered 69,425 people in fiscal year 2018, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. The Commission's offense type for the 70 cases here is Forgery/Counter/Copyright.
What the Numbers Cannot Answer
Fiscal year 2018 ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018. 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 say why courts sentenced below the range, and they do not describe the conduct in any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.3 (70), 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.