Infringement of Intellectual Property

Someone infringes on your Intellectual Property when they trade off the value you have built in a name, invention, artistic work, or other original creation of yours. In the case of a trademark, someone infringes when they use your name to attract customers who confuse the infringer with you.

Someone can infringe on your Trademark when they use a slogan similar to yours, or use your logo, or duplicate the color scheme and design of your business materials. The latter is called “trade dress”.

Trademark infringement typically involves intentionally confusing the public as to the source of offered goods or services. However, even innocent users of your trademark can be stopped from further infringement, particularly if you have a federal Trademark Registration. The Internet is where the most rampant trademark infringement is taking place through infringing domain names.

Someone infringes on your Copyright when they copy your original work of authorship, which includes artwork, photographs, design materials (inlcuding websites), text, software, music and many other original works. It is not deemed infringement if the use is what is called a “fair use”, generally not for commercial benefit, such as for educational purposes.

When there is a dispute over Copyright infringement, it often comes down to being able to prove that the infringing party had access to the work and copied a significant portion of original material created by someone else.

Patent infringement occurs when someone markets something using a patented idea. In this case, even if the infringer did not copy the patented work, the patent holder is entitled to protection. A patent protects the underlying idea, whereas Copyright protects only a particular expression of an idea.

The patent holder exchanges public disclosure of a specific idea or invention in exchange for getting a monopoly on any manifestation of that idea for 20 years. Therefore, even an innocent user can be guilty of infringement if the user was not the first to disclose the idea.