• 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. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 52. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property §§ 43–44.]
innocent infringement
The act of violating an intellectual-property right without knowledge or awareness that the act constitutes infringement.
