Existing law defines activities that constitute deceptive trade practices and provides for the imposition of civil and criminal penalties against persons who engage in deceptive trade practices. (Chapter 598 of NRS) Section 1 of this bill makes it a deceptive trade practice for a person to make a bad-faith claim or assertion of copyright infringement and sets forth various factors that a trier of fact may consider as evidence that a person has or has not made such a bad faith claim or assertion.
Section 1 authorizes a person who is aggrieved by a violation of section 1 to bring an action against the person who committed the violation seeking: (1) equitable relief; (2) actual damages; (3) reasonable attorney's fees and costs; and (4) exemplary damages in an amount equal to $30,000 or three times the sum of the actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs, whichever is greater. Section 1 also authorizes a court to award to a prevailing defendant in such an action reasonable attorney's fees and costs, if the court finds that the action was not well-grounded in fact and warranted by existing law or was interposed for an improper purpose, such as to harass or cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.
Section 2 of this bill sets forth certain legislative declarations and findings.