Legal Definitions - willful infringement

Definition: Willful infringement is the intentional and deliberate violation of someone else's intellectual property rights. It refers to an act that interferes with one of the exclusive rights of a patent, copyright, or trademark owner.

Examples:

• A company knowingly uses a trademark that is confusingly similar to another company's trademark to sell their products, even though they are aware of the potential infringement.
• An individual copies and distributes copyrighted material without permission, despite knowing that it is protected by copyright law.
• A manufacturer produces a product that infringes on a patent, even though they are aware of the patent holder's rights.

These examples illustrate willful infringement because the individuals or companies involved intentionally and knowingly violated someone else's intellectual property rights.