Dictionary Search: "Infringement"

Infringement

n. Intellectual property. An act that interferes with one of the exclusive rights of a patent, copyright, or trademark owner. -infringe, vb. See INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Cf. PLAGIARISM.

commencement of infringement

Copyright. The first of a series of discrete copyright violations, such as the first of many separate sales of infringing items. See INFRINGEMENT.

contributory infringement.

1. The act of participating in, or contributing to, the infringing acts of another person. ( For contributory infringement, the law imposes vicarious liability. 2. Patents. The act of aiding or abetting another person's patent infringement by knowingly selling a nonstaple item that has no substantial noninfringing use and is especially adapted for use in a patented combination or process. ( In the patent context, contributory infringement is statutorily defined in the Patent Act. 35 USCA § 271(c). 3. Copyright. The act of either (1) actively inducing, causing, or materially contributing to the infringing conduct of another person, or (2) providing the goods or means necessary to help another person infringe (as by making facilities available for an infringing performance). ( In the copyright context, contributory infringement is a common-law doctrine. 4. Trademarks. A manufacturer's or distributor's conduct in knowingly supplying, for resale, goods bearing an infringing mark.

copyright infringement

The act of violating any of a copyright owner's exclusive rights granted by the federal Copyright Act, 17 USCA §§ 106, 602. ( A copyright owner has several exclusive rights in copyrighted works, including the rights (1) to reproduce the work, (2) to prepare derivative works based on the work, (3) to distribute copies of the work, (4) for certain kinds of works, to perform the work publicly, (5) for certain kinds of works, to display the work publicly, (6) for sound recordings, to perform the work publicly, and (7) to import into the United States copies acquired elsewhere.

criminal infringement

The statutory criminal offense of either (1) willfully infringing a copyright to obtain a commercial advantage or financial gain (17 USCA § 506; 18 USCA § 2319), or (2) trafficking in goods or services that bear a counterfeit mark (18 USCA § 2320). ( Under the second category, the statute imposes criminal penalties if the counterfeit mark is (1) identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from, a mark registered on the Principal Register of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and (2) likely to confuse or deceive the public.

direct infringement

Patents. The act of making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing into the United States, without the patent owner's permission, a product that is covered by the claims of a valid patent. 35 USCA § 271(a). Cf. contributory infringement; infringement in the inducement.

domain-name infringement

Infringement of another's trademark or servicemark by the use of a confusingly similar Internet domain name.

inducing infringement.

See infringement in the inducement under INFRINGEMENT.

infringement in the inducement.

Patents. The act of actively and knowingly aiding and abetting direct infringement by another person.

innocent infringement

See INFRINGEMENT.

innocent infringement.

The act of violating an intellectual-property right without knowledge or awareness that the act constitutes infringement. ( An innocent infringer may, in limited circumstances, escape liability for some or all of the damages. In the copyright context, damages may be limited if (1) the infringer was misled by the lack of a copyright notice on an authorized copy of the copyrighted work, distributed under the owner's authority before March 1989 (the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988), and (2) the infringing act occurred before the infringer received actual notice of the copyright. 17 USCA § 405(b). In the trademark context, publishers and distributors of paid advertisements who innocently infringe a mark have no liability for damages. 15 USCA § 1114. In both contexts, the innocent infringer is immunized only from an award of monetary damages, not from injunctive relief.

literal infringement

Patents. Infringement in which every element and every limitation of a patent claim is present, exactly, in the accused product or process. Cf. DOCTRINE of EQUIVALENTS.

nonliteral infringement

See DOCTRINE OF EQUIVALENTS.

patent infringement

The unauthorized making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the United States any patented invention. 35 USCA § 271(a).

trademark infringement

The unauthorized use of a trademark - or of a confusingly similar name, word, symbol, or any combination of these - in connection with the same or related goods or services and in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods or services. See LIKELIHOOD-OF-CONFUSION TEST.

vicarious infringement