As the creator or owner of intellectual property, you have rights to your work. Even if you’ve not registered a trademark, if you’ve created original work, you have automatic copyright granted to your work once you created it. Registered copyright or other trademark allows you even further protection in a court of law. Intellectual property infringement means that no one can profit off of your ideas or creations.
When another person uses your intellectual property without your authorization, that’s intellectual property infringement. This includes patent infringement, copyright violations, and trademark infringement, among others. Your intellectual property rights mean that you can bar reproduction, duplication, and exploitation of your work. This is important to understand as both an individual and as a business owner so that your work and intellectual property are properly protected.
Some copyright violations seem harmless, such as copying internet-sourced images or words into your work or downloading and distributing internet content. Even unknowingly participating in intellectual property infringement can incur prosecution by the copyright holder. Violation of intellectual property can result in fines or prison sentences.
If you have intellectual property that has been misappropriated or violated, you can bring this case to court to protect your rights and property. You have to be aware first, however, that intellectual property litigations are costly and take time. An experienced business attorney is incredibly useful to have a thorough and complete case.
Successful intellectual property litigation could result in the court issuing an injunction to stop the violating party or requiring monetary compensation for lost profits or damages, or the violating party could have to agree to a licensing agreement. The case will better establish the rights the creator has to their intellectual property, but only if successful. Tackling such litigation without legal aid could be timely, costly, and ineffective.
Understanding litigations in Colorado can help you know what you or your business is protected from. Intellectual property infringement can happen in a number of ways, from competitor brands co-opting a similar logo, to stealing confidential business information, to fake social media profiles. These are some of the most common litigations surrounding intellectual property.
Counterfeiting is a form of trademark infringement and is usually unauthorized replicas of real products. Whether they look like the real product or not, they’re designed to deceive customers into thinking it’s an authentic product.
Making sure that your work is protected by patents and trademarks is especially important in the business world, but it’s equally important for individual intellectual property. While registered copyrights don’t prevent litigation from occurring, they can be used as evidence in support of your ownership of the assets. As a business, registering your property legally can allow you to protect your brand and image.
To protect and defend your product or company that is being misappropriated through one or multiple of these infringements, it’s important to hire a trademark attorney. An experienced intellectual property infringement attorney can guide you through the complicated process, allowing you higher success. Often in cases of intellectual property disputes, there are more factors at play than it might seem, and an attorney well-versed in these areas can provide expertise and guidance. For help from an experienced business and intellectual property attorney to protect your copyrights and property, contact Four Reasons Legal.