WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO FILE A COPYRIGHT CASE?

A perplexing question for litigators is whether copyright owners need to receive their registration before suing. In certain jurisdictions, they could file as long as they had an application on file. In others, they had to wait until a registration issued or action was taken on the application. Finally, the Supreme Court will resolve this looming issue as it agreed to hear the issue in the case of Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC.

Five Common IP Misconceptions

In my practice over the last decade, I have seen companies fall victim time and time again to the same IP pitfalls.  Here are a five things to keep in mind when trying to build and protect your brand or technology: 1)  Just because a domain name is available with a registrar does not mean that you can use it without consequence.  2) Owning a patent does not guarantee that you can practice the invention covered by the patent. 3) Just because you paid an independent artist to create your logo doesn’t mean you necessarily own it. 4) Sending a simple cease and desist letter is not without risk. 5) Patents may not always cover what they appear to state as they sometimes contain significant printing errors. I will explore each of these topics in more detail in upcoming posts. Stay tuned.