Good Faith

Good faith refers to a defense against the accusation one has infringed on a copyright, patent, or service. For an individual or entity to have good faith, they must have legitimately believed the use of protected material was legitimate, fair, and not to leverage the good name of an existing product or service. Good faith is essentially the opposite of bad faith.

Good faith demonstrates that the use of a word, name, symbol, or combination of those elements was representative of the party's products or services. Good faith may exist even if the party performed an appropriate search for the existence of a copyright, patent, or trademark and found that such protection existed. However, if the party believed their use of a given word, name, or symbol was legitimately different from that which was registered, the party may have acted in good faith.

When considering a legal action related to infringement, a court will consider good faith in determining what relief if any to grant to the plaintiff who is claiming harm because of infringement.