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California Penal Code Section 653s

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(a) Any person who transports or causes to be transported for
monetary or other consideration within this state, any article
containing sounds of a live performance with the knowledge that the
sounds thereon have been recorded or mastered without the consent of
the owner of the sounds of the live performance is guilty of a public
offense punishable as provided in subdivision (g) or (h).
   (b) As used in this section and Section 653u:
   (1) "Live performance" means the recitation, rendering, or playing
of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds in any audible
sequence thereof.
   (2) "Article" means the original disc, wire, tape, film,
phonograph record, or other recording device used to record or master
the sounds of the live performance and any copy or reproduction
thereof which duplicates, in whole or in part, the original.
   (3) "Person" means any individual, partnership, partnership member
or employee, corporation, association, or corporation or association
employee, officer, or director, limited liability company, or
limited liability company manager or officer.
   (c) In the absence of a written agreement or operation of law to
the contrary, the performer or performers of the sounds of a live
performance shall be presumed to own the right to record or master
those sounds.
   (d) For purposes of this section, a person who is authorized to
maintain custody and control over business records reflecting the
consent of the owner to the recordation or master recording of a live
performance shall be a proper witness in any proceeding regarding
the issue of consent.
   Any witness called pursuant to this section shall be subject to
all rules of evidence relating to the competency of a witness to
testify and the relevance and admissibility of the testimony offered.

   (e) This section shall neither enlarge nor diminish the rights and
remedies of parties to a recording or master recording which they
might otherwise possess by law.
   (f) This section shall not apply to persons engaged in radio or
television broadcasting or cablecasting who record or fix the sounds
of a live performance for, or in connection with, broadcast or cable
transmission and related uses in educational television or radio
programs, for archival purposes, or for news programs or purposes if
the recordation or master recording is not commercially distributed
independent of the broadcast or cablecast by or through the
broadcasting or cablecasting entity to subscribers or the general
public.
   (g) Any person who has been convicted of a violation of
subdivision (a), shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail
not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for
two, three, or five years, or by a fine not to exceed two hundred
fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), or by both, if the offense
involves the transportation or causing to be transported of not less
than 1,000 articles described in subdivision (a).
   (h) Any person who has been convicted of any other violation of
subdivision (a) not described in subdivision (g) shall be punished by
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by a fine
not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or both.  A
second or subsequent conviction under subdivision (a) not described
in subdivision (g) shall be punished by imprisonment in the county
jail not to exceed one year or in the state prison, or by a fine not
to exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), or by both.
   (i) Every person who offers for sale or resale, or sells or
resells, or causes the sale or resale, or rents, or possesses for
these purposes, any article described in subdivision (a) with
knowledge that the sounds thereon have been so recorded or mastered
without the consent of the owner of the sounds of a live performance
is guilty of a public offense.
   (1) A violation of subdivision (i) involving not less than 100 of
those articles shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand
dollars ($10,000), or by both.  A second or subsequent conviction for
the conduct described in this paragraph shall be punishable by
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year or in the
state prison, or by a fine not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000), or by both.
   (2) A person who has been convicted of any violation of this
subdivision not described in paragraph (1) shall be punished by
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed six months or by a fine
not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both.  A second
conviction for the conduct described in this paragraph shall be
punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year
or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by
both.  A third or subsequent conviction for the conduct described in
this paragraph shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail
not to exceed one year or in the state prison, or by a fine not to
exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or by both.

Last modified: January 12, 2009