Copyright Infringement

Copyright Infringement is the unauthorized or unlicensed copying of a work subject to copyright law. The unauthorized copying of a rights holder’s work violates one or more of the owner’s exclusive rights in the work (see What Is Copyright for a list of these rights).

What constitutes the “unauthorized” copying of copyrighted material extends to any copying or use of the content with the exception of musical works subject to Section 115 (compulsory exemption) or in cases of “fair use”. Only the rights holder(s) of a copyrighted work has the ability to grant licenses for the use of those works in whole or in part, or the right to assign their share of any of the rights granted by law to others (i.e. music publishers) in that work.

Copyright infringement is what is legally referred to as a “strict liability”, meaning that even in cases where the copying of a rights holder’s work material was “unwillful”, the act of copying is still considered an infringement, and is therefore still subject to “statutory damages” and or profits from the use of the copyright. However the courts do treat cases of “willful” infringement much more harshly.