Section 6-13.1-15 - Piracy of recordings(a) As used in this section, "article" means a phonograph record, disc, wire, tape, film, compact disc, audio or video cassette, compact video disc, or other device on which sounds or images are or can be recorded or otherwise stored.(b) Unless exempt under subsection (d), it is unlawful for any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association knowingly to:(1) Transfer or cause to be transferred any sounds recorded on any article on which sounds are recorded onto any other article;(2) Transfer or cause to be transferred any performance, whether live before an audience or transmitted by wire or through the air by radio or television, onto any article; or(3) Sell, distribute, circulate, offer for sale, distribution, or circulation, possess for the purpose of sale, distribution, or circulation, or cause to be sold, distributed, circulated, offered for sale, distribution, or circulation, or possessed for sale, distribution, or circulation, any article on which sounds or performances have been transferred without the consent of the person who owns the master article from which the sounds are derived or the right to record the performance.(c) It is unlawful for any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or association to sell, distribute, circulate, offer for sale, distribution, or circulation or possess for the purposes of sale, distribution, or circulation, any article on which sounds or images have been transferred unless the article bears the actual name and address of the transferor of the sounds in a prominent place on its outside face or package.(d) This section does not apply to any person who transfers or causes to be transferred any sounds or images intended for, or in connection with, radio or television broadcast transmission or related uses for archival purposes or solely for the personal use of the person transferring or causing the transfer and without any compensation being derived by the person from the transfer.(e) Every person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony and:(1) For the first offense is punishable by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than six (6) years, or by both fine and imprisonment.(2) For a subsequent offense is punishable by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten (10) years, or by both fine and imprisonment.(3) The court in its judgment of conviction may order the forfeiture and destruction or other disposition of all infringing articles and all implements, devices, and equipment used in the manufacture of the infringing articles.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-13.1-15
Amended by 2014 Pub. Laws, ch. 528,§ 10, eff. 12/31/2014.P.L. 1976, ch. 257, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 387, § 1.