It is a common occurrence these days, the infringement of intellectual property of someone. The reason it is becoming so common is majorly owing to two factors one is that it is way too easy to accomplish, and the other is ignorance, people often fail to realize that what they are doing is causing infringement of someone else’s intellectual property.
Some of us may not be very familiar with what constitutes the infringement of intellectual property, it is simply the usage of the said property in such a manner that directly or indirectly challenges or violates the authority of the actual owner over the property. For instance, when a person downloads any piece of music from the internet for free i.e. without paying the creator of the music, they unknowingly violate the ownership authority of the creator and hence an act of infringement is committed. Similarly any information or graphic that someone else has copyright for, if you use it without their permission it is considered to be an infringement of their property.
Now as we mentioned it is a common occurrence so how to stop it is the main question? The answer is suing the infringing party for their act. It will not only make sure that the infringement stops but also will get you paid for the use of it that has earlier happened. All it requires from your side is patience and finance to keep up with a suit.
However, first thing first you have to determine whether your property has been infringed upon or not. By this, we mean that there is a couple of laws about copyrights pertaining to which the usage may not be considered an infringement. There are a number of things that you need to check first such as you had not given any person or institution the permission to use your work under any circumstances, contractual or other. You need to make sure that the usage does not fall under fair usage where using a part of the property or shots of it are allowed and covered under the “copyright free” category. Some people even have questions about whether what they update on social networking sites like twitter or facebook is guarded under copyrights or not, the truth is the matter is highly debatable; the update would have to be highly peculiar to be claimed as yours originally.
It is always better to put in a polite word first. Make sure that you let the other party know in cordial terms that they should stop infringing your property, this will make them aware that they are infringing and that you know about it. If they still continue with it then you can go for the suit. Proof of these efforts from your side can help you a lot in your case.
The laws and regulations pertaining to intellectual properties are full of complexity and hence you will need someone who has deep and thorough knowledge of the same. It is not enough that you decided to sue the other party first you need to determine whether your case has potential and for that you would need a knowledgeable attorney. It will no doubt cost you some money, but it will be justified since you have to know whether you have a good probability of winning before entering the suit.
Along with your attorney it is up to you as well to make your case strong, you can do so by collecting as many proofs as you can regard the infringement, they can be emails, snapshots, graphics, etc. It is better that whatever you have you arrange in some order, this will save you any extra charges from your attorney’s side.