Accused of Trademark Infringement: Do You Have Insurance?
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Aug 2, 2018 in Business' Intellectual Property
As more businesses use the internet to advertise their goods and services, more business owners are discovering copyright and trademark infringement issues that impact their businesses. People duplicate photos, logos, portions of books, manuals, and websites that they find on the Internet – but they don’t obtain permission from the original owner of the copyrighted work or trademark. Since business owners are increasingly beginning to understand the value of protecting their trademarks and obtaining copyright […]
Continue ReadingIt Looks Like a Duck, It Quacks Like a Duck, But It… Might Not Be a Duck?
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jul 19, 2018 in Intellectual Property
Crystal Broughan is grateful that E. Paul Cuffe, our summer guest blogger and a summer law clerk at Marks Gray, P.A., co-authored this article. Many are familiar with the duck test. It’s a popular reasoning exercise where habitual characteristics are used to identify unknown subjects: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Unfortunately, this test may not prove helpful when applying […]
Continue ReadingWHOIS Using Your Website Content in Bad Faith? It’s Now Harder to Find Out
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jul 12, 2018 in Intellectual Property
Crystal Broughan is grateful that E. Paul Cuffe, a summer law clerk at Marks Gray, P.A., co-authored this article. You may have heard of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and for good reason. The regulation, effective May 25, 2018, applies to European Union (EU) members as well as any company that markets goods or services to EU residents, regardless of location. On its face, the regulation’s purpose is understandable – many internet […]
Continue ReadingPreventing Counterfeit Trademarks – Part 4: Civil Litigation
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jul 5, 2018 in Intellectual Property
In my last post, I discussed how to pursue criminal enforcement in order to take counterfeit trademarks out of circulation and receive reimbursement. When you go this route, you put your case in the government’s hands. For this reason, many trademark owners prefer to pursue civil remedies. This gives them more control over how aggressively the case is pursued, who is included in the civil complaint as defendants, and when the counterfeit goods are seized. […]
Continue ReadingPreventing Counterfeit Trademarks – Part 3: Criminal Enforcement
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jun 28, 2018 in Intellectual Property
To prevent damage to your brand and your bottom line, preventive measures to stop counterfeit trademarks from entering the US market are often most effective. But what are your options if those false marks have already entered into commerce? One remedy is to pursue criminal enforcement. As the trademark owner, you should report the crime to the appropriate state or federal law enforcement authorities. You can learn more about what exactly constitutes a counterfeit trademark […]
Continue ReadingPreventing Counterfeit Trademarks – Part 2: Border Measures
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jun 21, 2018 in Intellectual Property
Trademark counterfeiting is a costly problem faced by many businesses. It can mean lost sales as well as irreparable harm to your brand. In part one of this series, I discussed the difference between counterfeiting and trademark infringement. In this article, I will cover remedies that may be available to you if your case involves counterfeit trademarks: preventing foreign-made counterfeit goods from entering the United States. There are two main agencies that can help in […]
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