Access Definition

In the context of real estate, the right and ability to enter, approach, and pass to and from. In copyright law, a person who is accused of infringing upon another's copyrighted material may seek to refute the claim by showing that he had no opportunity to see, hear, or copy that work -- that is, he had no access. In family law, a husband who disputes paternity of his wife's child might have argued that his wife had relations with other men -- that is, others "had access" -- but that claim is rarely relied upon in light of modern and highly accurate scientific paternity testing.