18 U.S.C. § 1465
Section 1465 · Production and transportation of obscene matters for sale or distribution
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 110 court decisions — leading case Melvin Friedman v. United States (1975)
Most recently applied in SER (GEORGIO) v. STATE (November 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 1462 · 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 1461
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever knowingly produces with the intent to transport, distribute, or transmit in interstate or foreign commerce, or whoever knowingly transports or travels in, or uses a facility or means of, interstate or foreign commerce or an interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) 1 of the Communications Act of 1934) in or affecting such commerce, for the purpose of sale or distribution of any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, film, paper, letter, writing, print, silhouette, drawing, figure, image, cast, phonograph recording, electrical transcription or other article capable of producing sound or any other matter of indecent or immoral character, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
The transportation as aforesaid of two or more copies of any publication or two or more of any article of the character described above, or a combined total of five such publications and articles, shall create a presumption that such publications or articles are intended for sale or distribution, but such presumption shall be rebuttable.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934, referred to in text, was redesignated section 230(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 by Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title XIV, §1404(a)(2), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–739, and is classified to section 230(f)(2) of Title 47, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs.
Amendments
2006—Pub. L. 109–248, §506(a)(3), inserted comma after “in or affecting such commerce” in first par.
Pub. L. 109–248, §506(a)(2), which directed amendment of this section by inserting “produces with the intent to transport, distribute, or transmit in interstate or foreign commerce, or whoever knowingly” after “whoever knowingly” and before “transports or travels in”, was executed by making the insertion after “Whoever knowingly” and before “transports or travels in” in first par., to reflect the probable intent of Congress.
Pub. L. 109–248, §506(a)(1), inserted “Production and” before “transportation” in section catchline.
1996—Pub. L. 104–104, in first par., substituted “transports or travels in, or uses a facility or means of,” for “transports in”, inserted “or an interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934) in or affecting such commerce” before “for the purpose of sale”, and substituted “of” for “, or knowingly travels in interstate commerce, or uses a facility or means of interstate commerce for the purpose of transporting obscene material in interstate or foreign commerce,” before “any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000” in first par.
1988—Pub. L. 100–690, §7521(c), inserted “, or knowingly travels in interstate commerce, or uses a facility or means of interstate commerce for the purpose of transporting obscene material in interstate or foreign commerce,” after “distribution” in first par.
Pub. L. 100–690, §7522(b), struck out last par. which read as follows: “When any person is convicted of a violation of this Act, the court in its judgment of conviction may, in addition to the penalty prescribed, order the confiscation and disposal of such items described herein which were found in the possession or under the immediate control of such person at the time of his arrest.”
Construction of 1996 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 104–104 not to be interpreted as limiting or repealing any prohibition contained in sections 1462 and 1465 of this title, before such amendment, see section 507(c) of Pub. L. 104–104, set out as a note under section 1462 of this title.