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Trademark and Copyright Infringement
Trademarks
and copyrights are valuable property to their holders and provide
significant intangible value for a corporation. Trademarks and
copyrights are effective legal methods for protecting the identity
of and control over a company's goods and services. The licensing
of trademarks and copyrights can provide additional revenue
and distribution capabilities to companies.
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or other designation that
uniquely identifies a corporation's goods or services. A trademark
is the embodiment of a company's reputation and good standing
in the market. American companies can have trademark rights
under both state and federal law. Under state law, the first
firm to use a particular mark is the legal owner of that mark.
A trademark owner may gain valuable additional rights by registering
his trademark under the federal Lanham Act. To be eligible for
federal registration, the mark must be used in interstate or
foreign commerce and it must not fall into certain forbidden
categories enumerated in the Lanham Act.
Copyright is a form of protection provided to authors of "original
works of authorship," including creative works of literature,
art, music, and drama. While the copyright protects the creator's
original expression as contained in the work, it usually does
not protect any idea, procedure, process, method, system, discovery,
name or title. Once issued, a copyright gives the holder the
exclusive right to exercise or control reproduction and/or distribution
of the work, creation derivative works based on the original,
public performance or display of the work, intentional modification
of the work that may result in harm to the creator's reputation,
and the destruction of a well-recognized and protected creation.
Our attorneys are experienced in defending assertions made in
state and federal courts involving copyright or trademark infringement.
While most of our experience has been in defending the assertions
of infringement, we are experienced in enforcing the copyright
and trademark rights of corporate clients. We will also handle
trademark and copyright licensing disputes.
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