Re: personal liability for copyright infringement

On 10/10/97, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> Is there any set of circumstances under which a corporate officer can
> be held personally liable for acts of copyright infringement by the
> corporation, *without* piercing the corporate veil?

By analogy to the personal liability of officers and directors in environmental suits, you might try a direct claim of contributory infringement if the particular party was the precise person involved (by direct action or by supervisory responsibility) in authorizing the infringing activity.

I personally have long had difficulty with the easy end-run around veil-piercing analysis the courts have given under the "owner or operator" rubric under CWA, CAA, RCRA and CERCLA, but if you've got a paying client (of course, I mean *any* client), it seems prudent to go for it wherever it's arguable.

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