Is ignorance a defense to copyright infringement what are other possible defenses

The copyright holder has to prove two things: (1) that he owns a valid copyright; and (2) that your work is substantially similar to his. Once he proves those, he's got the copyright infringement case taken care of.

Ignorance is not a defense against the basic infringement claim, but it IS a defense against a claim of WILLFUL infringement, and ignorance of the pre-existing work can be used to mitigate the damages that you will, if no other defenses are available to you, end up owing to the claimant. If you didn't know that the work was out there, you could not have infringed it willfully. This is important because willful infringement of copyright carries with it some pretty stiff civil penalties -- trebled damages, plus, in certain cases, the infringer gets to pay the claimant's attorneys' fees and costs.

If you stand accused of copyright infringement, RUN to your intellectual property (not your general-practice) attorney. Don't walk -- RUN. If you have been served with a complaint, you have only a very short -- a maximum of 25 days from the date of service, and probably less -- amount of time to answer the claim. There may be other defenses to this action. If you have not been served, it will be easier to settle this matter than it would be once papers are served.

Feel free to contact my office if I can be of help to you in this matter.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

In addition to the above response the damages and potential defenses will depend on the nature of the alleged infringement - was it a song? an image? text? Also by "having no knowledge" do you mean that you did not know that the text, song or photo was the copyrighted work of another? If that is the case then you can be considered an "innocent infringer" and the court has the right to limit damages to $200 per infringement. If the alleged copyright holder never actually registered the copyright then they are likely only entitled to "actual damages" and not the "statutory damages" that the previous answer listed.

If you mean that unbeknown to you someone distributed or published material with your name on it and it ended up being copyrighted material (for example put up some of your writing or art on a website without your knowledge) and then it was viewed and objected to by someone claiming copyright then you may have aclaim overon the publisher as well.

There are some limited defenses to copyright infringement charges, like fair use for example which protects people who use copyrighted work for purposes of critique; educational uses also may be exempt and so on.

I agree with the prior answer that your best bet is to get a free consultation where you can explain exactly what is going on. You can also contact me if you would like to discuss this matter in greater detail.

Nancy and Oscar have said nearly all that needs to be said -- the key point being that you need to speak with a copyright attorney soon.

The last few years have seen a dramatic rise in frivolous -- or at least highly questionable -- claims of copyright infringement. Due to the advent of digital copying technology (i.e. computers and nifty software, including the "right click" copy function on every mouse in the world), the last few years have also seen a dramatic rise in copyright infringement.

These are turbulent times in copyright law (even for copyright attorneys) and the ease of digital copying has caused significant confusion among the public. Nonetheless, the bedrock truth is that copying without permission from the copyright owner is most often unlawful. Even if you think that the work being copied is "in the public domain" or if you think the copyright owner wouldn't mind.

The more fundamental question is why copy at all? There's no risk when creating your own work or when you buy the right to copy someone else's work.