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Faizan
If your company creates books, movies, films, music, architectural blueprints or software, you have a copyright on your products. Copyright is exactly what it sounds like, the legal right to decide who can make or sell copies of your creations. Copyright exists from the moment you create a work, even if you don't register it with the federal government. If a competitor reproduces, distributes, performs or publicly displays your work without your company's permission, the company has infringed on your copyright.
Register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. You can file in person or log on to the office's online copyright registration system. You have to register before you can file a lawsuit against the infringing company.
Register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. You can file in person or log on to the office's online copyright registration system. You have to register before you can file a lawsuit against the infringing company.
Confirm the competition really is violating your copyright. If, say, someone quotes a few lines from a published book in a review, that's considered "fair use" -- there's no infringement, even if the book review is negative. Using information from your brochures probably isn't copyright violation either: Facts can't be copyrighted, only the way they're presented.
File a case in federal court. If you register your copyright within five years of publication, courts consider that as solid evidence that you have a legitimate copyright and the other party's use is infringement.
Calculate how much you've lost from the copyright infringement. If you win the case, you can ask for the infringement to stop and request reimbursement for your financial losses. You also can ask the judge to award you any profits the infringer made from stealing your work.
Posted in: Business Laws
