constructive notice

constructive notice (uncountable)

1. (law) Notice of a fact which is created by operation of law, despite a lack of actual notice.

This term is most frequently used in the context of statutes, under which a party which must have notice before a legal action can be taken against it is deemed to have such notice if the party wishing to take that legal action follows steps set forth in the statute. For example, if a defendant in a civil lawsuit can not be found, the plaintiff may often serve constructive notice by publishing an announcement about the lawsuit in an approved newspaper. When a party receives a United States trademark registration, everyone else in the country is deemed to have notice that the mark is in use by the registrant.