How to take Legal Action against Intellectual Property Theft

Intellectual property refers to intangible assets derived from human intelligence and creativity. In modern times, it is often associated with digital content published in the form of text, audio, and/or visuals. Intellectual property is integral to a business, as it holds great economic value. A trademarked logo/brand name, copyrighted music/software/books, a patented design, and trade secrets (such as the recipe for a restaurant’s signature dish) are all different kinds of protected intellectual property. If you wish to keep the rights to your creation exclusive, it is compulsory to get it registered with the relevant organization.

Unfortunately, intellectual property theft has become far too easy to commit since the prevalence of online resources. Content can be stolen from digital media remotely within minutes, or even seconds. The convenience seems to counteract the guilt and encourage people to misuse someone’s hard work for their personal gains. Prosecuting a person/company for stealing your intellectual assets can be tricky, but not impossible as long as you have attained necessary legal protection. Texas Business Litigation Attorney recommends us to employ the following steps, in order to acquire a favorable outcome:

1. Establish the Point of Access

Before you start making accusations, you have to demonstrate the location of your intellectual property and establish how the alleged thief would have reached it. If your unique content is available on an online platform where anyone can see it, establishing the point of access shall not be a problem. However, if the article valuable to your business was not present on a digital medium, you may require more solid facts to justify your allegation.

2. Record Evidence of Theft

Documentation can provide valuable support to your claims. For instance, if someone has been using your copyright images without permission and taken credit, you can record proof through securing screenshots. If the stolen material is non-digital, you must extract a physical copy of the evidence.

3. Track down the Culprit

Knowing the identity of your thief can further solidify your claims. WHOIS software can help you discover the culprit’s IP address, contact number, physical address, and email address through their website’s domain.

4. Reflect upon Provisions under the ‘Fair Use’ clause

Before you appeal to law, make sure that your intellectual property is not being employed in accordance to the ‘Fair Use’ clause. You may fail to incriminate the user under the following circumstances:

• The content was utilized for a nonprofit or educational cause.
• An insignificant portion was used (for example, taking 10 out of a 1000 words could be considered a coincidence rather than infringement)
• You did not incur any loss in income/sales were not affected.

5. Estimate your Financial Loss

It is indeed preposterous if the thief has been making money from your intellectual property, and compromised your earnings. You must be able to determine approximate financial losses from their actions. If the figure you provide is based on true statistics, you might qualify to recover that amount by the end of trial.

6.Warn the Thief

Lawsuits and legal proceedings can be rather costly and tiresome. Before you immerse yourself into a legal battle, try sorting out the matter outside of court. Sometimes a simple request to your thief to back off is enough to make them apologize and stop stealing.

7.Report the Crime

If your warnings went unheard, go ahead and report the crime to the police or another agency having authority over the case.

8. Get a Lawyer

If you wish to sue the thief, you will have to hire a lawyer to guide you through the procedure. The lawyer shall assist in constructing a strong case and bringing in additional evidence if required.

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