Infringement, when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language.
In a legal context, an infringement refers to the violation of a law or a right. This includes intellectual property infringements such as:
- Copyright infringement
- Patent infringement
- Trademark infringement
In some jurisdictions, an infringement can refer to an administrative penalty system for minor criminal or regulatory breaches of the law. This process typically involves the issue of a notice either on the spot or by mail and disposition of the breach without the offender being required to be subject to prosecution or other formal court proceeding. Many road safety, public transport and local authority offences are managed in this way.
Famous quotes containing the word infringement:
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
—William Pitt, The Younger (1759–1806)
“The life of a good man will hardly improve us more than the life of a freebooter, for the inevitable laws appear as plainly in the infringement as in the observance, and our lives are sustained by a nearly equal expense of virtue of some kind. The decaying tree, while yet it lives, demands sun, wind, and rain no less than the green one. It secretes sap and performs the functions of health. If we choose, we may study the alburnum only. The gnarled stump has as tender a bud as the sapling.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)