§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
In fiscal year 2020, 28 of the 37 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (76%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 10 months. All 37 pleaded guilty. 5 people (14%) were sentenced within the guideline range.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark › §2B5.3: FY2020
In brief: In fiscal year 2020, 28 of the 37 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (76%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 10 months. All 37 pleaded guilty. 5 people (14%) were sentenced within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 37 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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.
Median Prison Term of 10 Months
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 37 people in fiscal year 2020 whose primary guideline was §2B5.3, titled "Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark" in the Guidelines Manual.
28 of the 37 (76%) were sentenced to prison. 6 (16%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 10 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 2.6 months or less. The median of 10 months was lower than the all-years median for this guideline, which is 12 months.
Guilty Pleas
All 37 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 95% had a written plea agreement and 5% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Because the Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, the data cannot show how many people charged under this guideline were acquitted or had their cases dismissed.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
Within the range: 14% (5 people). Below the range at the government's request: 43% (16). Below the range without a government request: 41% (15). Above the range: 3% (1).
Under §2B5.3 across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 19% of sentences were within the range. For every guideline in fiscal year 2020, the figure was 50%. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to none of the 37 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% |
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
27 people (73%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 4 (11%). Restitution was ordered for 28 (76%).
81% of the group were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 3% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Years Before and After, and All Federal Sentences
Fiscal year 2019 had 47 people under this guideline, a median prison term of 12 months, and 26% within the range. Fiscal year 2021 had 36 people, a median prison term of 12 months, and 19% within the range.
The all-years figures for §2B5.3 are 499 people, 58% sent to prison, and 96% guilty pleas.
In fiscal year 2020, 64,565 people were sentenced in federal court under every guideline. Their median prison term was 18 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. For the 37 cases here, the Commission's offense type is Forgery/Counter/Copyright.
What Is Not Shown
This fiscal year ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not the time served, and 37 people is too few to establish a trend.
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers appear here. Nothing in the records explains the reason for any sentence.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.3 (37), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.