> ## 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, FY2016–2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-3-criminal-infringement-of-copyright-or-trademark/ - Published: 2026-11-03T01:39:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:39:52.000Z - Description: Under guideline §2B5.3, 499 people were sentenced in federal court from fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025. Of those, 287 (58%) received a prison term and 142 (28%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months, and no mandatory minimum applied to any of the 499. - 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 **In brief:** Under guideline §2B5.3, 499 people were sentenced in federal court from fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025\. Of those, 287 (58%) received a prison term and 142 (28%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months, and no mandatory minimum applied to any of the 499. Updated November 2, 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 499 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. 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/). ## Most Sentences Fell Below the Guideline Range Only 94 of the 499 people (19%) received a sentence within the guideline range. Another 189 (38%) were sentenced below the range at the government's request. A larger group, 213 (43%), was sentenced below the range without a government request. 3 people (less than 1%) were sentenced above it. The guideline range is the range the Sentencing Guidelines produce for a case. These figures compare each sentence with that range. They do not say what the range was in any single case. ## What Section 2B5.3 Covers The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2B5.3 "Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark." The Sentencing Commission groups these cases under the offense type Forgery/Counter/Copyright, which had 499 people in this period. A case is counted here when §2B5.3 was its primary guideline. That is the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count. The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it. ## How Long Were Prison Terms? Among the 287 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 3.5 months or less. These are the terms the court imposed, not the time actually served. The 142 people who received probation only had no prison or other confinement. The sheet shows no mandatory minimum prison term for any person sentenced under this guideline. ## Guilty Pleas and Trials A total of 481 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 18 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 95% had a written plea agreement, and 5% were straight pleas with no agreement. The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 16 months after a trial. The trial figure rests on 15 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it is a small group. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution A court ordered supervised release after prison for 263 people (53%). The median supervised release term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 95 people (19%), and restitution was ordered for 305 (61%). Criminal history was low for most of the group: 85% were in the lowest category I, and less than 1% were in the highest (VI). ## Changes Over the Years In fiscal years 2016 to 2019, 283 people were sentenced and the median prison term was 15 months. In fiscal years 2020 to 2025, 216 people were sentenced and the median was 12 months. The yearly table shows 84 people sentenced in 2016 and 40 in 2025\. The yearly median ranged from 4 months in 2022 to 24 months in 2023, though each year has few people. The records do not show why any year differed from another. | 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% | ## What the Records Cannot Show The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own. The Sentencing Commission files describe sentences, not the facts of any case, and they do not include people who were acquitted or whose cases were dismissed. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.3 (499), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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) - [§2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b3-1-robbery/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b5-1-offenses-involving-counterfeit-bearer-obligations-of-the/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b4-1-bribery-in-procurement-of-bank-loan-and/) (same guideline chapter part) - [§2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b2-1-burglary-of-a-residence-or-a-structure/) (same guideline chapter part) - [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.