The Liability Of Corporate Officers For Infringement Of Intelletual Property In The United States

The system of liability of corporate officers for infringement of intellectual property is contribute to preventing from infringing intellectual property and proteting the intellectual property holders adequately by making the corporate officers liable for the intellectual property infringement. This paper mainly studies the American system of liability of corporate officers for infringement of intellectual property, by introducing its historical evolution of legal theory, summarizing its types of liability,analyzing its rules and regulations and pointing out its significance, so as to provide some references for building of China’s relevant system.This paper is divied into 4 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the historical evolution of legal theory of the Issue.The legal theory has experienced from self liability to vicarious liability of the controller,and has changed to fault liabilty.Chapter 2 summerise the types of corporate officers’liability for intellectual property infringement.There are two tpyes. One is direct liability caused by participation or piercing the corporate veil and the other is indirect liability based on contributory infringement or vicarious liability.Chapter 3 analyzes the rules and regulations of addressing the Issue and studies the addressing rules of accountability. Whether the corporate officers are responsible is not based on a single factor but on a comprehensive consideration of factors that determine the accountability like personal participation,control,benefit,fault and piercing the corporate veil,etc.Chapter 4 analyzes the rationality of the Issue,and points out its significance for learning.