Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement is handled in civil courts rather than in criminal courts. In a civil court, the plaintiff only needs to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that you infringed upon the copyright; the plaintiff is not held to the beyond a reasonable doubt standard used in criminal courts. To prove copyright infringement, the owner of the copyright does not have to show you had intent to infringe; if the work was copyrighted and you used the work without permission, then you are liable, no intent is necessary.
Invalid defenses to infringement
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I received permission from the owner of a website to use the work. One must be careful that the poster of the work is the originator of the work. If not, you are infringing on the copyright and are liable. If the poster copied the work and did not have permission to use the work, then he or she is also liable for infringement.
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The courts will feel sorry for me since I am just an ordinary person going up against a big corporation. If you infringed, the court must find you liable; however, they may give you a break on the amount of damages awarded.
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I removed the work from my website. Once you receive notice of a copyright infringement, you should immediately remove the questioned material from the Internet to prevent further liability, but his will not affect your liability for the previous use.
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I own the website but the person who designed the site is the one that put the work on the site. If copyrighted work is used on a website without permission, the owner of the website is liable for infringement no matter where the work was obtained or who put the work on the site. If the work was copied by you, you are liable. If a person employed by you, such as a webmaster or web designer used the work, you are liable. If the work was purchased from some online service or was a part of a template you copied or paid for, you are liable. The person or company you obtained the work from may also be liable for infringement, but that does not excuse you from liability.