Today I want to talk about “I didn’t mean to…” cases.

Copyright law is, for the most part, a statute that provides civil remedies to copyright holders in the event of infringements. That means, the civil standard applies to copyright actions.

Unlike criminal proceedings, which require both mens rea, or the intent to harm, as well as actus reas, or the act of harming, most civil proceedings do not require mens rea in establishing the cause of action.

For example, in a motor vehicle accident, it doesn’t matter whether the defendant meant to cause the collision. The fact that a collision happened is enough for the plaintiff to start a proceeding.

In my experience, most clients generally tell me that they didn’t mean to infringe someone else’s copyright. I then must explain that proof of intention is not required in establishing copyright infringement.

Intention may be relevant in establishing the damages available to the plaintiff, but that is a topic for another day.