No Electronic Theft Act

No Electronic Theft (NET) Act

Long title	An Act to amend the provisions of titles 17 and 18, United States Code, to provide greater copyright protection by amending criminal copyright infringement provisions, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	NET Act
Enacted by	the 105th United States Congress
Effective	December 16, 1997
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 105-147
Statutes at Large	111 Stat. 2678
Codification
Acts amended	Copyright Act of 1976
Titles amended	17 and 18
U.S.C. sections amended	17 USC 101, 506, 507; 18 USC 2319, 2320; 28 USC 1498
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2265 by Bob Goodlatte (R–VA) on July 25, 1997 Committee consideration by United States House Committee on the Judiciary and United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Passed the House on November 4, 1997  Passed the Senate on November 13, 1997  Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 16, 1997

The United States No Electronic Theft Act (NET Act), a federal law passed in 1997, provides for criminal prosecution of individuals who engage in copyright infringement under certain circumstances, even when there is no monetary profit or commercial benefit from the infringement. Maximum penalties can be five years in prison with fines.