Intellectual Property Infringement
Your intellectual property may be some of your most hard earned and valuable property, whether you realize it or not. The product you developed and patented may be key to your business’ future success. The brand name that you trademarked is the cornerstone of your marketing efforts. Controlling these key assets can help your business grow. If others infringe on you intellectual property rights all the resources you poured into them will benefit someone else.
Intellectual property (IP) covers creations of the mind, including,
- Inventions,
- Literary and artistic works,
- Designs, and,
- Symbols, names and images used in commerce.
IP is protected by state, federal and international laws. Patent, copyright and trademark laws enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. The law tries to balance the interests of innovators and the wider public interest. Our IP system tries to create an environment where creativity and innovation can flourish.
IP infringement is any breach of intellectual property rights. This happens when a work protected by IP laws is used, copied or exploited without the permission from the person or entity that owns those rights. IP infringement includes “counterfeiting” and “piracy.”
- Counterfeiting is imitating genuine goods, often resulting in inferior and potentially dangerous products, to take advantage of the brand and superior value of the copied product.
- Piracy is the unauthorized copying, use, reproduction and/or distribution of materials protected by IP rights.
Your business could fall victim to IP infringement in many ways.
- Your website, including trademarked brand and product names and copyrighted content, could be copied by someone else selling similar products.
- A competitor may use a name for a product or service very similar to the trademarked one you use to confuse potential customers and generate sales.
- Your patented product could be purchased by a competitor, reverse engineered, copied and sold. This could result in tremendous savings because you pay for the research and development, not them.
Intellectual property rights aren’t carved in stone. You may have been accused of intellectual property infringement but what you did was legal. The trademark or patent you’re accused of violating may not be valid. To avoid potential conflicts you should do research and find if the material or design you plan to use may be protected by a trademark, copyright or patent.
If a party believes its IP rights have been violated it often send a “cease and desist letter” to the party who allegedly is violating the law. As a result, the practice may change, the other party may agree to pay a fee for the right to use it (a license) or the two parties may continue down the road to litigation to resolve their differences.
We can help you protect your rights and interests in an intellectual property infringement matter, whether you’re the one who feel your rights have been infringed or you’re the party defending yourself against such claims. To schedule a consultation with an experienced California business law expert at Focus Law by calling (714) 415-2007 now.
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