Infringement

In patent law. A word used to denote the act of trespassing upon the incorporeal right secured by a patent. Any person who, without legal permission, shall make, use, or sell to another to be used, the thing which is the subject matter of any existing patent, is guilty of an infringement. To constitute an infringement, there need not be a precise duplication, but only an adoption of the "operative principle" (1 Fish. Pat. Cas. [U. S.] 319); a mere change in the mechanical incidents, while retaining the principle, being an infringement. By the "principle" of a machine is not meant the original elementary principles of motion, but the modus operandi, — the peculiar device or manner of producing the effect.

1 Gall. (U. S.) 478.

The term is also applied to the unlawful or unauthorized use of copyrighted matter or of a trademark or trade name.