The use of material that is protected by copyright law (such as text, image, or video) in a way that violates the rights of the copyright holder, without the rightsholder’s permission and without an applicable copyright exception or limitation.
This can include infringing creation of copies, distribution, display, or public performance of a covered work, or the unauthorized creation of derivative works.
Infringement may involve primary liability (for the person who did the infringing conduct) or secondary liability for others involved in that conduct (such as a hosting company whose service hosts images posted by a user).
In the United States, a digital service hosting user-generated content receives safe harbor under Section 512 of the Copyright Act, so long as it complies with the applicable notice and takedown procedures set forth in that law.
