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Infringement Litigation

What to Do When Facing an Infringement

There are a number of questions that often come up when a person or business becomes aware that their intellectual property is being infringed. Here are a few that intellectual property holders should be asking themselves:

  • Do I have legal right to block the infringement? Where can I sue?
  • What sort of harm is the infringement causing? What legal remedies am I seeking?
  • How do I choose a patent litigation law firm?

At Glancy Prongay & Murray, our intellectual property lawyers help people and businesses explore these questions and understand their legal rights and options. Our patent litigation law firm combines decades of legal experience in the courtroom and at the negotiating table to ensure that our clients’ rights are fully protected in all IP claims.

Do I Have a Legal Right to Block the Infringement?

Patent Infringement

To protect your invention from patent infringement, you must first get a patent. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office is a clearinghouse that reviews applications and decides whether to award a patent. If granted, the patent bars anyone else from using your invention without your consent. The Patent and Trademark Office grants utility and design patents.  Utility patents protect the function of the device. Design patents protect the ornamental design of the device.

A person or business who believes their patent is being infringed has the right to sue to stop that infringement and seek compensation from those responsible. These lawsuits can be filed in any federal district court in which the infringing products are being manufactured or sold. In some cases, you can also file a complaint with the International Trade Commission, which hears cases involving the importation of products that infringe on patents.

Copyright Infringement

Copyright protection applies to creative works like literature, art, music, drama and other forms of expression. Copyright is protected regardless of whether a person or business registers with the U.S. Copyright Office, although there are important benefits to registration. The protection lasts for the life of the author, plus an additional 70 years.

A person or business whose copyright is being infringed can sue the infringer in a federal district court in the geographic area where the infringement is taking place.

Trademark Infringement

Trademark protection applies to certain unique designs, slogans, words, terms and phrases that businesses use to define their brands. They must be sufficiently unique in order to qualify for protection.

Companies can go a long way in protecting their trademark and putting others on notice by registering the trademark with the Patent and Trademark Office. The mark should be regularly used to ensure protection.

A business whose trademark is being infringed can file a lawsuit to stop the infringement and seek other legal remedies.

What Legal Remedies Are You Seeking in Your IP Litigation Lawsuit?

Before you file an IP litigation lawsuit, it is important to understand what you want to get out of it. There are a number of ways to seek those remedies, including options aside from going to court. A patent litigation law firm can help you gauge the strength of your case and determine which remedies you should seek.

Stop the Infringement

Need someone to stop using your invention? Here are some of your options.

  • Injunctive relief: A person or entity seeking to stop intellectual property infringement can file a lawsuit, asking a judge to grant an injunction. This form of legal relief requires the infringer to discontinue the infringement and may pose certain penalties in the event that the infringement does not cease. Patent holders can seek a similar ban on infringement in some cases by going to the International Trade Commission.
  • Destruction: In some cases, a court may also order the infringer to deliver all of the infringing products to the party that owns the intellectual property and/or have it destroyed.

Get Compensation for Infringement

  • Money damages: A person or business whose intellectual property has been infringed has the right to seek monetary compensation from the infringer. That usually comes in the form of licensee fees or profits that the intellectual property holder would have received had it permitted the infringer to use the intellectual property. In other cases, it may also include the revenue that the intellectual property lost out on through competition from the infringer.

How Do I Choose a Patent Litigation Law Firm?

If you are considering taking legal action for intellectual property infringement, there are a number of available options. It is vital to consult a seasoned intellectual property attorney to ensure that your patent, trademark or copyright is protected.  

Selecting an attorney is an important part of protecting your intellectual property. You should seek as much information as possible on the firm’s experience in the particular area of the law and get a full picture of the costs associated with taking legal action.  

Glancy Prongay & Murray is a patent litigation law firm, whose attorneys have helped people and businesses protect their intellectual property over decades of combined legal practice. We guide our clients through the legal process with experience and personal attention.

Our firm offers a number of fee arrangements to share any financial risk with the people that we represent. That includes contingency arrangements in which we do not get some or all of our fees unless we successfully resolve your case. This allows us to make completely sure that our interests are fully aligned with those of our clients. Depending on the nature of the case, we might agree to bear litigation costs.  In other circumstances, the client might be required to pay, again, to ensure that interests are aligned 

Other times, it may make more sense for our clients to arrange an hourly fee. In situations where a client may benefit from outside litigation financing, our firm can also help arrange it.

Call us at (310) 201-9150 or contact us online to speak with an attorney at our patent litigation law firm today.

 

Court Recognition

“And without question, the Court is of the opinion that the value of benefit that’s been conferred to the class is extremely sizable and that this Court is certainly aware that the skill and efficiency of plaintiff’s counsel is what attributed to this settlement, and they are learned securities counsel. The Court is mindful of that, and as a result they were able to sort of weed their way through the complex issues in this case, and also to bring this about — bring about a settlement rather in short order as these matters go. So the Court certainly attributes that to counsel’s skill and efficiency, as well as the ability to work with the adversaries in this matter.”

–Hon. Susan D. Wigention, U.S. District Judge, District of New Jersey

“Class Counsel has conducted the litigation and achieved the Settlement in good faith and with skill, perseverance and diligent advocacy”

— Hon. Donovan W. Frank, U.S. District Judge, District of Minnesota

“The court finds that the Settlement Fund… created by Class Counsel is an exceptional result… The settlement is significantly above the average securities class action settlement when measured as a percentage of losses recovered… The court finds that Class Counsel, particularly Co-Lead Counsel, exerted tremendous effort on behalf of the class in the prosecution of this action… The Court finds that Class Counsel skillfully prosecuted this action, particularly given that this case was unusually complex relative to most securities fraud class actions. ”

–Hon. Dickran M. Tevrizian (Ret.), U.S. District Court Judge, Central District of California

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