§2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
In fiscal year 2021, 64% of the 36 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (23 people) were sentenced below the guideline range without a government request. 22 (61%) received a prison term with a median of 12 months, and 13 (36%) received probation only.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark › §2B5.3: FY2021
In brief: In fiscal year 2021, 64% of the 36 people sentenced under §2B5.3 (23 people) were sentenced below the guideline range without a government request. 22 (61%) received a prison term with a median of 12 months, and 13 (36%) received probation only.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 36 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
Below the Range Without a Government Request
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 36 people in fiscal year 2021 whose primary guideline was §2B5.3. The Guidelines Manual titles this guideline "Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark."
Below the range without a government request: 64% (23 people). Below the range at the government's request: 17% (6). Within the range: 19% (7). Above the range: none.
The share below the range without a government request was larger than the share below it at the government's request. The share within the range, 19%, matches the all-years share for this guideline and is lower than the 43% share for every guideline in fiscal year 2021.
| 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
22 of the 36 people (61%) were sentenced to prison. 13 (36%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 23.8 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. These are imposed terms, not time served.
22 people (61%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 36 (0%).
Restitution and Fines
Restitution was ordered for 28 of the 36 people (78%). A fine was ordered for 2 (6%).
Restitution was ordered more often than fines in this group. The data does not show the amounts ordered.
Plea Agreements
All 36 people (100%) pleaded guilty. None were convicted after a trial. 97% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The Commission counts only convicted and sentenced people, so acquittals and dismissals are outside these numbers.
Criminal History and Comparison Years
92% 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.
Fiscal year 2020 had 37 people under this guideline and a median prison term of 10 months. Fiscal year 2022 had 24 people and a median prison term of 4 months. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 499 people were sentenced under §2B5.3, with a median prison term of 12 months and 96% guilty pleas.
All guidelines combined covered 57,287 people in fiscal year 2021, with a median prison term of 29 months and 98% guilty pleas. The Commission's offense type for these 36 cases is Forgery/Counter/Copyright.
Limits of the Records
Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. A group of 36 does not show a trend. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported.
The records give no case facts and no reasons for sentences below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.3 (36), 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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.