Defences Against Infringement

Infringement of intellectual property rights entails the act of violating or breaching a lawful authority over intellectual property. Infringement of intellectual property rights occurs when a document that's also protected by intellectual property law is used, reproduced, or exploited in any other way without the appropriate consent from the person who holds the original rights. Counterfeiting and piracy are two types of illegal activity that breach intellectual property rights.

Counterfeiting occurs when a product's worth is higher than it actually is, so its imitation is made to look like the real thing. Piracy refers to the illegal duplication, use, replication, and/or distribution of works that are subject to intellectual property rights protection. Intellectual property rights take a variety of forms, namely copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and trade secrets.

Defence Against Infringement of Intellectual Property Laws

In the civil processes and the criminal prosecutions under common law, a defendant may put up a defence (or defences) in an effort to escape criminal or civil culpability. This may be done in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability. A defendant in a criminal or civil process has the right to question the truth of any claims made against them, to make accusations against the prosecution or plaintiff, or to present a defence. However, the defendant bears no responsibility for the same. Furthermore, intellectual property law provides few avenues for redress.

They are

Copyright Infringement Defence

Invalidity: The defendant has the option of proving the owner's copyright is invalid by arguing that it was granted in error. This typically comes up while determining the scope or validity of a copyright licence.

License: The accused may present evidence that she is legally allowed to drive. This typically comes up while determining the scope or validity of a copyright licence.

Public Domain: The defendant could win if he or she claims the work is in the public domain. It is important to note that this also applies to works that have never been protected by copyright and cannot be protected in the future. In most cases, this signifies that the copyright has expired since copyrights attach automatically. A creative can also take measures to voluntarily release their work into the public domain.

Statute of Limitations: The defendant may raise the issue of the expiration of the statute of limitations in an effort to have the case dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The statute of limitations applies even if the infringing party knew of the usage but did nothing to stop it within that time frame. In most cases, it wouldn't apply to violations that are still happening.

Accident: The defendant may assert they were unaware they were infringing on someone else's rights. Using this argument to justify making money off of someone else's copyrighted work is quite unusual. Please take note that this covers any usage that is accidental and not for profit.

Fair Use Doctrine: With respect to copyrighted works, the fair use concept states that there may be legitimate and lawful uses that do not infringe on the rights of the holder. Review (including criticism), academic usage (including teaching the material or doing research), satire or other parody of the work, and news or public commentary is all examples of possible fair uses.

Patent Infringement Defence

It includes:

• The defendant may present evidence of compliance, such as data showing that they are not infringing, or may instead choose to allege that the asserted patent is invalid.

• The court may order the defendant to stop providing or selling the infringing goods.

• Through "cross assertion," the defendant may attempt to negotiate licence payments with the patent owner (if the plaintiff is not an NPE).

• The defence might counter an infringement suit by first claiming non-infringement. Among all the possibilities, the most advantageous is probably the one where you hire an expert to defend you against non-infringement for a reasonable price.

• If the defence believes the patent was illegally obtained by the plaintiff, they may provide evidence to that effect. that the claimed subject matter does not qualify as an invention under this Act or as patentable under the Patents Act of 1970.

• inadequate description of the innovation or its implementation.

• If an invention is originally filed for patent protection in a convention nation or India, and an application for a patent is not filed within twelve months of that date, the patent will not issue.

Trademark Infringement Defence

These are:

Doctrine of Laches: Under the doctrine of laches, a plaintiff who knows or should have known of an infringement is barred from seeking a preliminary injunction if the claim is not filed within a reasonable amount of time after the plaintiff learned of the infringement.

Estoppel: In the legal theory of estoppel, sometimes known as "acquiescence," the plaintiff unwittingly or knowingly gives permission for the defendant to utilise the plaintiff's trademark.

Unclean Hands: When a plaintiff engages in unlawful or egregious behaviour, such as making excessive and onerous demands or falsely claiming that trademarks are registered when they are not, the notion of "unclean hands" may apply.

Contesting Registration: Trademarks that have been on the books for less than five years are particularly vulnerable to having their registration challenged by third parties.

Essentially, when a party uses a branded item as a component of a more complex product, the doctrine of securities permits the party to identify the element by its trademarked name without any danger of being responsible for infringement. This is only true to the degree that the party does not fool the public into thinking that the goods being offered are truly marketed by the trademark owner.

Design Infringement Defense

These are:

Repair Defense: If the design is being used for the sole purpose of fixing a broken product, the repair defence provides a comprehensive defence against the charge of design infringement. Complex items only; there must be at least two user-replaceable parts per unit. Any application of the component must improve the whole in some way. Here, "repair" refers to either the process of restoring or replacing broken parts or the process of repairing the component part and performing any necessary maintenance on the integrated product.

Dealers in replacement parts may now be certain that they understand how far the repair defence extends to the sale of replacement components, now that its scope has been established. Even with precautions in place, businesses dealing in the automobile aftermarket's import and sale of replacement components should be vigilant whenever employees engage in face-to-face interactions with clients. When OEMs understand what "repair defence' comprises, they can better safeguard their designs.

Conclusion

In most legal systems, a defence is an acceptable explanation for why a defendant is not held liable for a crime. When someone asserts a defence and it is upheld, that person is exempt from the penalties that would otherwise result from the liability rule that was supposed to be applied. Whether a defence is accessible or not is solely relevant to the party who raised it and the party who brought the legal action, under this rule.

FAQs

Q1. What are major forms of IPR infringement?

Ans. Here intellectual property infringement might include trademark infringement, copyright infringement, patent infringement, etc. IP laws in India are controlled and protected under the Patents Act, 1970; Trademarks Act, 1999; Copyrights Act, 1957; Designs Act, 2001, etc.

Q2. What is the most common infringement?

Ans. Image and text copyright are two prevalent forms of violation. The minute you produce an original image, whether it's a selfie or a breathtaking scenery, you instantly own the rights to that image.