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Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999

Public Law 106-160 · H.R. 3456 · 106th Congress · began in the House

Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Dec 9, 1999 · Commerce

Sponsor: Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC-6)

Cosponsors: None

Passage votes

  • HouseUnanimous consent
  • SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends Federal copyright law with respect to the statutory damages available for copyright infringement to increase: (1) the minimum damages from $500 to $750; and (2) the maximum damages from $20,000 to $30,000.

Increases from $100,000 to $150,000 the maximum additional damages a court may award for willful infringement.

Directs the Sentencing Commission, within 120 days after enactment of this Act, or within 120 days after there is a sufficient number of voting members of the Sentencing Commission to constitute a quorum, whichever is later, to promulgate emergency guideline amendments to implement the sentencing mandate with respect to crimes against intellectual property in the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

  • Judiciary Committee · House · discharged from, referred toSubcommittee: Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee
Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 12 actions.

  1. Dec 9, 1999Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 106-160.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Nov 30, 1999PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Nov 19, 1999FloorFloor · Received in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  5. CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Judiciary Committee
  6. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
  7. Nov 18, 1999FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  8. FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
  9. FloorFloor · Mr. Coble asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
  10. FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
  11. CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  12. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.