Re: personal liability for copyright infringement

From: Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 14:59:33 -0700

On 10/11/97, Julie E. Cohen <jecohen[_at_]pop.pitt.edu> wrote:
>
> Stephen J. Hyland <shyland[_at_]computer-lawyer.com> wrote:
> >
> > Interestingly, I have also found cases that hold that copyright
> > infringement is considered to be the kind of willful or malicious
> > damage to property that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. There
> > are about five cases on this issue, all of which have followed
> > this reasoning.
>
> I litigated one of these cases in a previous life (though ours was
> not one of the reported decisions). As I remember it, the
> nondischargeability cases focused on willful infringement; has
> any court extended this to "ordinary" strict-liability infringement?

I don't believe so. The statute involved says:

"A discharge . . . does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt-- .. . . for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another entity."

11 U.S.C. section 523(a)(6).

The cases focus on willful infringement to satisfy the willful prong, and the separate requirement for malice appears to vary depending on the court. See In re Hibbs, 161 B.R. 259, 261 n. 1 (C.D. Cal. 1993) for a list of published cases on this subject.

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Bob Stock <bstock[_at_]ucla.edu>
UCLA School of Law '98
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1206/

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Received on Mon Oct 13 1997 - 21:58:11 GMT