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Copyright 2006
Cornell University.
All rights reserved.

 

Recourse for Copyright, Trademark, or Patent Infringement

IP protection is valuable for your business as a visible symbol of legal protection. If you use the ® or ™ symbol to indicate a trademark or the © to indicate copyright, others should immediately know that you have registered or are aware of your IP rights. This visibility of your IP protection is a major deterrent to copying.

Copycat products are always going to be a problem for designers, especially for new designers with small businesses. In most cases, the designer must prove that a competing product is a direct copy, and this takes time and money.


Mills photo
"We certainly have been faced with issues of blatant copying of our products. But so has everyone in fashion. "

Malia Mills agrees that copyright and trademark are important issues to designer entrepreneurs. However, she recommends caution in pursuing litigation except for the most blatant and significant infringements.

 

Recourse usually begins with a letter to the offending party asking them to cease production and distribution of the copies. Often this first demand is ignored and another letter is sent. If the copycat offense is finally admitted and settled out of court, a plan is agreed on to pay damages, stop distribution or relinquish all copied products. If not, the next step can be another letter, other communications, or a lawsuit.


Earle photo
"We came up with this name, K.C. Parker..."

Peggy Hart Earle shares a trademark litigation at Hartstrings where a person sued the company for using her nickname, K.C. Parker, for one of their lines.

 

Pursuing an IP infringement costs money and may not be the best choice for the small designer. Given the nature of the fashion industry where knock-offs are considered a normal part of business (see www.anyknockoff.com), many do not pursue legal recourse. The main goal of those that do is to get offenders to stop copying products so they often settle without court proceedings. The offenders agree to stop to avoid negative publicity.

Lawsuits are expensive and often do not resolve the issue in a timely fashion. They should be considered a last resort, but an option that is available to be pursued.

1. If you think you might want to license your product in the future, what forms of IP protection can you acquire that will allow licensing?
2. List three situations when licensing a product might make good sense for a business.

 

 

 

 

 
   
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