(a) Acts of Infringement. Except as provided in subsection (b), it shall
be infringement of the exclusive rights in a design protected under this
chapter for any person, without the consent of the owner of the design,
within the United States and during the term of such protection, to-
(1) make, have made, or import, for sale or for use in trade, any
infringing article as defined in subsection (e); or
(2) sell or distribute for sale or for use in trade any such infringing
article.
(b) Acts of Sellers and Distributors. A seller or distributor of an
infringing article who did not make or import the article shall be
deemed to have infringed on a design protected under this chapter only
if that person-
(1) induced or acted in collusion with a manufacturer to make, or an
importer to import such article, except that merely purchasing or giving
an order to purchase such article in the ordinary course of business
shall not of itself constitute such inducement or collusion; or
(2) refused or failed, upon the request of the owner of the design, to
make a prompt and full disclosure of that person's source of such
article, and that person orders or reorders such article after receiving
notice by registered or certified mail of the protection subsisting in
the design.
(c) Acts without Knowledge. It shall not be infringement under this
section to make, have made, import, sell, or distribute, any article
embodying a design which was created without knowledge that a design was
protected under this chapter and was copied from such protected design.
(d) Acts in Ordinary Course of Business. A person who incorporates into
that person's product of manufacture an infringing article acquired from
others in the ordinary course of business, or who, without knowledge of
the protected design embodied in an infringing article, makes or
processes the infringing article for the account of another person in
the ordinary course of business, shall not be deemed to have infringed
the rights in that design under this chapter except under a condition
contained in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b). Accepting an order
or reorder from the source of the infringing article shall be deemed
ordering or reordering within the meaning of subsection (b)(2).
(e) Infringing Article Defined. As used in this section, an "infringing
article" is any article the design of which has been copied from a
design protected under this chapter, without the consent of the owner of
the protected design. An infringing article is not an illustration or
picture of a protected design in an advertisement, book, periodical,
newspaper, photograph, broadcast, motion picture, or similar medium. A
design shall not be deemed to have been copied from a protected design
if it is original and not substantially similar in appearance to a
protected design.
(f) Establishing Originality. The party to any action or proceeding
under this chapter who alleges rights under this chapter in a design
shall have the burden of establishing the design's originality whenever
the opposing party introduces an earlier work which is identical to such
design, or so similar as to make prima facie showing that such design
was copied from such work.
(g) Reproduction for Teaching or Analysis. It is not an infringement of
the exclusive rights of a design owner for a person to reproduce the
design in a useful article or in any other form solely for the purpose
of teaching, analyzing, or evaluating the appearance, concepts, or
techniques embodied in the design, or the function of the useful article
embodying the design.