Legal Definitions - innocent infringement

Innocent infringement refers to the act of violating someone's intellectual property rights, such as copyright or trademark, without knowing or having a reasonable basis to know that such rights existed or that one's actions constituted an infringement.

While it is still considered an infringement, the lack of intent or knowledge can sometimes influence the legal remedies or penalties imposed by a court. Courts may consider the "innocent" nature of the infringement when determining damages or injunctive relief, often resulting in reduced liability compared to a willful or intentional infringement.

Here are some examples to illustrate innocent infringement:

• Example 1: Unlicensed Stock Photo

  A small graphic design freelancer creates a website for a local client. To populate the site, the freelancer downloads an image from a website that claims to offer "royalty-free" stock photos. Unbeknownst to the freelancer, the image was actually uploaded to that site by a third party who did not own the copyright, and the image is, in fact, copyrighted by a professional photographer. The freelancer genuinely believed they were using a legally permissible image.

  How it illustrates the term: The freelancer committed copyright infringement by using the image without proper authorization. However, because they had no knowledge that the image was copyrighted and reasonably believed it was free to use, their actions would likely be considered innocent infringement.

• Example 2: Similar Business Name in a New Market

  A new coffee shop opens in a small town in Oregon, naming itself "The Daily Grind." The owner conducted a local business name search and found no conflicts. Unbeknownst to them, a well-established coffee chain with the same name, "The Daily Grind," operates exclusively in Florida and has a federal trademark registration. The Oregon owner had no reasonable way of knowing about the Florida chain due to their geographic separation and lack of national advertising presence.

  How it illustrates the term: The Oregon coffee shop infringed on the Florida chain's trademark by using an identical name for similar services. However, since the Oregon owner had no prior knowledge of the existing trademark and acted reasonably in their local search, this could be considered innocent infringement.

• Example 3: Believing Music is Public Domain

  A hobbyist filmmaker creates a short documentary about local history. For the soundtrack, they use a snippet of an old, obscure folk song found on an archival website, believing it to be in the public domain due to its age and the website's general content. Later, it is discovered that the song was recently restored and re-copyrighted by the original artist's estate, and the archival website had not updated its information.

  How it illustrates the term: The filmmaker infringed on the copyright of the song. However, their belief that the song was in the public domain, based on reasonable assumptions from the archival source, would classify this as innocent infringement rather than a deliberate attempt to violate copyright.