It may happen that a competitor will exploit your trademark, your patent or your design, or all of them.
At this point, however, always using the utmost care, action must be taken. The first step is documenting the alleged infringement and the circumstances in which it took place. Then, with the help of a specialist we provide, the situation is coldly analyzed and the legal situation assessed in order to propose a strategy for effective action.
Many violations of IP rights are involuntary, and with the competitors involved you can usually find a solution out of court. Often just a warning is needed, or a peremptory communication, to clarify the legal situation and the legal consequences of a continuation of the infringement. Then the two parties come to an agreement. There are many tools of pacification, e.g. a money license of right value.
But when instead a lawsuit comes into play, it is good to be assisted first by (i) competent technicians and experts in legal cases and in how to interpret the texts/rights at stake, and (ii) lawyers specialized in intellectual property law. The matter is too complex and tricky for an inexperienced lawyer to handle.
To this aim we have an extensive and proven network of legal professionals, experts and experienced in industry, ready to marshal in defense of your IP rights.
To avoid any conflict it is good to keep an eye on the activities of competitors, hence our services of patent and trademark watch.
The need of expert, technical and legal support is even more important when you are being attacked. At that point it is vital to determine whether and how to defend yourself, e.g. by determining whether the right claimed by the attacker is null.
In the event of litigation registered or granted rights (trademarks, patents and designs) have the advantage of providing a clear and documented evidence of the extent of protection, the filing date of the application, the owner, etc..
For example, for a patent the claims determine the scope of protection, and play a key role in the course of proceedings to determine the fate of attacker and defender. For this reason in patent litigation interpreting correctly the claims is the key, and the first step is to assess the validity and/or the breach thereof.