Capp and Marsh, serving all locations in Southern California, with offices in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties:
Tel: (888) 558 6275
Copyright, Trademark, Unfair competition
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Capp and Marsh, serving all locations in Southern California, with offices in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties: Tel: (888) 558 6275
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A major part of Mr. Capp's practice as a California copyright lawyer relates to copyright, trademark and unfair competition disputes.
 | Copyright registration |
| Trademark registration |
| Copyright infringement litigation |
| Trademark infringement litigation |
| All matters of unfair competition |
| Domain name disputes |
Although not strictly required by law, formally registering a Trademark and/or a copyright provides valuable benefits to the Trademark or copyright owner. Ask any California copyright lawyer
In particular, registration provides powerful advantages to Plaintiffs in copyright and Trademark infringement actions, and at least for copyright holders, is a prerequisite to filing an infringement lawsuit in Federal Court.
Registered copyright owners also benefit from extremely favorable advantages when bringing an infringement action in federal court, including mandatory statutory damages and attorney fee awards.
COPYRIGHTS
What is a copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This includes paintings, photographs, poems, books, screenplays, and anything else that could be considered original art. The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing.
So how do I get my work of art copyrighted?
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. It is NOT required that the work of art be formally registered with the Copyright Office in Washington D.C..
Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in phonograph disks (" phonorecords"), or both.
If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.
So why register my copyright with the Copyright Office?
Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, the copyright law provides several important advantages to those who register their work with the U.S. Copyright Office. These advantages include the following:
| Formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is required in order to bring an infringement suit in US Federal Court
| If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner. Statutory damages require that the infirnger pay the copyright holder a minimum of $750 per infringement and a maximum of $30,000 per infringement as the court considers just In a case where the copyright owner proves to the satisfaction of the court that the infringement was committed willfully, the court may increase the award of statutory damages to a maximum of $150,000. Also, if the infringer proves that they acted 'innocently' the court may reduce the damages to a sum of not less than $200. |
For more on copyright click here
UNFAIR COMPETITION
Trademark and/or copyright infringement normally also constitutes 'passing off' or the act of 'unfair competition' either under Federal or state law. In essence, by using a third party's intellectual property rights the infringing party can often be said to have unfairly competed with the aggrieved party.
FOR A FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION CALL 888 558 6275 for a California copyright lawyer