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Last updated on: April 8, 2024
As a business owner, the originality of your creations—whether they’re groundbreaking inventions, creative content, or distinctive symbols—are invaluable assets that need vigilant protection against the ever-evolving tactics of infringement.
In this guide, we look into the various types of IP infringements, shedding light on the different ways your intellectual assets can be compromised. We will provide you with strategies to fortify your defenses, whether you’re navigating the complex web of copyright laws, warding off counterfeiters, or preempting patent breaches. Understanding the nuances of intellectual property infringement is key to ensuring that your brand can continue to thrive and your brand’s reputation remains untarnished.
It is illegal to violate the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) that attach to a piece of intellectual property in any way. Owners of IPRs have the power to prevent others from reproducing, duplicating, or exploiting their work.
Intellectual Property infringement might fall into numerous categories:
Copyright infringement: A copyright is a legal right given to the copyright owner of original work, such as a photograph, literature, video, music, or other creative activity. When you use a picture that is not your own or for which you have not been granted permission to use, you may be infringing on the rights of the original creator. If you decide to work with a freelance content writer, for example, you should always use a plagiarism checker for the content they create to make sure it’s original. Skipping this step could unknowingly get you tangled up in copyright infringement.
Trademark infringement and counterfeiting: A trademark is a term, symbol, phrase, or design that identifies and legally distinguishes one entity’s product or service from that of another. Unauthorized use of a trademark in such a way that could lead customers to be confused about the product’s origins, or whether the person selling the counterfeit goods is affiliated with the true trademark owner, is trademark infringement.
Counterfeiting: In the eyes of the law, counterfeiting is a form of trademark infringement. For the most part, counterfeit products don’t look like the real thing, but they’re designed to fool customers into thinking they’re getting something authentic.
Patent infringement: Patents guard against unauthorized replication, usage, copying, or sale of an innovation. Patents can cover manufactured goods, machines, designs, and a variety of other products and processes. There are regional patent offices in each country where one can apply for patent registration. Patent infringement occurs when someone makes, uses, sells, or offers to sell a patented product or design without the consent of the patent owner.
Rights of publicity: Individuals’ rights to publicity prevent all members of the public from having their names, likenesses, or other recognized features of their identities exploited without permission in product listings, ads, or other commercial operations. Using a third party’s publicity rights without their permission may be considered a violation of their right to privacy.
IP infringement can occur in a variety of ways, but some of the more common ones are as follows:
Ecommerce websites have been involved in numerous intellectual property conflicts.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble, for example, engaged in a legal struggle over the “single-click” or “one-click” purchasing method. The parties reached a private settlement in this case.
Several businesses have filed lawsuits against Google, alleging that the search engine is infringing on their intellectual property rights by using their trademarks as terms. Legal action against the company was initiated by American Airlines and Geico.
Intellectual property violation can affect your brand in a number of ways if it isn’t addressed, such as:
1. Consider trademarking your brands’ names and logos, as well as applying for design and utility patents for each product.
Pro-tip: Trademarks should preferably cover places where counterfeiting is a problem.
2. Enroll your brand in all major ecommerce anti-counterfeit schemes, such as Amazon Brand Registry or eBay Verified Rights Owner, for free.
3. Before committing to cooperate with a potential partner, you should share nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with them. NDAs are frequently used to protect trade secrets. When a party to an agreement violates the agreement by disclosing all or parts of a trade secret to uninterested others, the trade secret is infringed upon. When an NDA is not present, it is possible to be guilty of trade secret violation.
4. Register your brand’s most obvious domain variants.
This is another efficient approach to defend a brand from cybersquatters who claim domain names in order to profit from legitimate businesses’ trademarks. The domain takedown service from Red Point detects and removes spoofing sites that try to profit off your brand.
The Domain Takedown Solution from Red Points analyzes search engines and domain databases in three steps to automatically find and report phony websites:
5. AI technology can help you safeguard your intellectual property online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Use the most advanced brand protection technology, such as Red Points, to automatically discover and process thousands of Intellectual Property (IP) infringements, focusing on the most dangerous offenders first.
How Red Points works:
When it comes to intellectual property rules, it’s necessary to take into consideration your legal obligations and rights.
Protecting your intellectual property may help you build your brand, make money from your unique assets, and keep others from using your creations without your permission. Including them in your business strategy will help you stay on top of everything.
To determine which properties should be protected, make a list of all your intellectual property. Prepare a budget for the time and money you will need to adequately secure the rights to your intellectual property. Set timelines for the study, filing, and finalization of these steps and work toward them as if they were any other company goal.
Use Red Points Intellectual Property software, which uses a powerful intellectual property tracking and protection system to automatically discover and remove IP infringement to protect your customers and earnings.