Defences for copyright infringement

Here is a list of defences that may be raised in an action for copyright infringement.

A short thread.

a. The work in question is not protected by copyright.

An alleged infringer may argue that the underlying work in question is in the public domain and as such, no one owns it.

C'est fini

b. While the infringed work is protected by copyright, you could argue, that the claimant doesn't own copyright over the work in question so he has no right to sue you in the first place.

This may be the case where the author of the work has transferred ownership to another.

This is also the case in a work for hire. The independent contractor has no right to sue where the copyright has been assigned to the person who commissioned the work.

And the person who commissioned the work has no such right where there was no assignment.

c. You could claim innocence - that you didn't copy the work.

You can pull this off by arguing that you had no access to the work in question at the relevant time and that there's no substantial similarity between the work you've created and the allegedly infringed work.

d. You could admit to copying (or infringing) the work but then go-ahead to claim:
- fair use
- Permission
-  That you used only a small portion of the work in question
- That the infringement happened a long long time ago.

e. You could admit to copying/infringement and be willing to pay up the damages yourself or have the insurance company pick the tab.

Having the insurance company pick the tab is a level of flex