infringed

American  

[in-frinjd] / ɪnˈfrɪndʒd /

adjective

1. violated, transgressed, or encroached upon, as a regulation, restriction, or right.

   The costs of enforcing an infringed patent can be exceedingly high.

   He complained that CCTV was an ever more common security measure for which we all pay the price of infringed privacy.

2. illegally copied, distributed, or sold, as in contravention of a copyright or patent.

   A judge dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the allegedly infringed material lacked the requisite originality.

3. relating to or being someone whose copyright, patent, etc., has been violated.

   When awarding damages, it must be considered how wealthy the infringed company could have been without the infringement.

---

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of infringe.

Other Word Forms

• uninfringed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of infringed

First recorded in 1590–1600; 1955–60 infringed for def. 2; infringe + -ed ² for the adjective senses; infringe + -ed ¹ for the verb sense