8 Steps to Prevent Unauthorized Use of Intellectual Property Online

Your company’s Intellectual Property (IP), regardless of what it is or the form in which it is existing, is often more valuable than anything else. Hence, the security teams and IP executives of your firm must understand the need to keep these crucial assets safe against the rapidly emerging dark forces that are continuously trying to steal them. With the advancements in digital technologies, robbery and unauthorized use of inventive works like pictures, content, or other vital IPs have become very common. The unique online IP assets that are intended to gain followers and customers for your business if stolen and used by others can reduce your profits. Therefore, it is essential to legitimately prohibit others from infringing on your online intellectual property.

Steps to Protect your IP Online

Is somebody already using your work and thus, earning on your name? Don’t worry as the following steps will not only help you in dealing with unlawful use of your work but also reduce the possibilities of your IP’s theft in the future.

  1. Comprehending Copyright Law is Must: Your unique blog, picture, content, and video are your IP and get protected from the moment you create them. Undoubtedly, it means that no one can use the work without your permission, but many people (knowingly or unknowingly) still try to reproduce it. No matter what the reason is, people often try to steal and use your assets. Nonetheless, you can prevent them from doing so by using the copyright protection surrounding your work, but as different work is protected differently, there is a need to have a deep insight into copyright law. Besides, filing a wrong Copyright Infringement case can leave you with penalties, thus turning it more significant to comprehend the law.
  2. Issue an Official Copyright Notice: Such notices are one of the best means to prevent people from violating your work as it informs people that the particular work is your IP. Though these notices don’t grant additional protection or rights, yet putting them in your content can keep your work safe.
  3. Formulate an Easily Understandable Permission Policy: Create an explicit permission policy that provides clear statistics about how users can use your work. Tell them for what kind of use they need to take your permission and what they can use without seeking your consent. It will benefit you by making people consult you before using your content as well as by giving a published standard that you can refer to if anyone infringes your IP.
  4. Have insight into Users’ Intention: Not every person who re-posts your work does so to violate it. Some may do this as they are not aware of the law or the fact that the work is your IP. Moreover, a few may be using it just because they want to develop the interest of their target readers. Hence, be cautious and have an ideology about the users’ intention behind using your asset before taking any legal step.
  5. Request Removal of your Work: Many times, the users’ motives are not harmful, i.e., they are violating your Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) unknowingly. Even after executing the previously mentioned step, if you still come across such users, be kind to them and try not to suppress their enthusiasm. Send an email or put a comment informing them that they are unintentionally committing an illegal act. Furthermore, suggest them to get benefitted from your work by using it legally as per your permission policy.
  6. Turn Your Request into Demand: Are the users not responding to your request aptly? It’s time to be a little bit rigid and turn your request into demand. Send a demand letter or an email asking the users who are behaving as offenders to remove your copyrighted content from their site.
  7. Extract Benefits from Infringer’s Hosting Service: Are the offenders still not ready to cooperate? Carry out some searches and discover their WhoIs record. You can do this by utilizing the efficient tool named as DomainTools. The information gathered in this way will reveal their domain registration information, encompassing the details of the host of the website. Create an email, including statistics that why you want the offenders to remove your work from their website. The legitimate service on receiving your email will investigate the case, and if it discovers your request appropriate, then demand the offender to respond as you want. Nonetheless, if the infringers don’t act aptly, it will take their website down.
  8. Hire an Attorney-at-law: Do the service providers appear shady, incompetent, or offshore? Relax as it is not a new concern, many people suffer from the same one. At this instance, IP attorneys can serve you with relief by putting such nasty infringers out of your professional life. They can even proffer guidelines on How to Manage Intellectual Property, how to ensure effective IP Portfolio Review and Management, etc., to avoid similar worries in the future.

IP is the base of almost every business, and thus, no one can afford to lose these valuables in others’ hands. Hopefully, the steps in this article will prove beneficial in safeguarding your intellectual property online. So don’t miss out on these steps as not directly but undoubtedly they play a crucial role in your overall success. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Must be Aware of Copyrights! Let’s Know About Copyleft Now!!

In the present Internet age where it has become ever-easier to infringe on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), you must have heard about copyright. Most of us know that copyright is an exclusive right that enables the creator to use his original work while preventing others from stealing it.

As a creator, you need to safeguard your unique and creative Intellectual Property (IP) assets. For instance,

  • Photographers should copyright their photos,
  • Software developers should use appropriate licenses,
  • Bloggers should issue DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices.

However, this can be a headache, specifically if you are prolific and your work is famous. That’s why many creators are adopting copyleft. Here’s everything you should know about the copyleft license.

Copyleft

Copyleft is all about a concept by which you can share your work to third parties with some rights such as copying, modifying, etc. Under copyleft license, people are free to use, change, or distribute the work as per their need in exchange for just one condition of preserving the same freedom in the modified versions of the work. It encourages more and better publications. However, copyleft obliges people to distribute the modified work on the base of providing the same or similar copyleft license to others, but it isn’t necessary to make copyleft work free like in the public domain.

3 Key Concepts Related to Copyleft

  1. Copyleft is About Users Freedom

Despite what the name implies, copyleft is not about abolishing copyright. Instead, it is a subset of the copyright license and functions on an objective to provide freedom to the users.To understand this concept, we need to recall copyright that bestows the owners of the original work with legal rights to dictate how others can or cannot copy, reform, and distribute their works. If someone uses the original work in a way contrary to how its creator allows, the owner is entitled to take legal action, i.e., file Copyright Infringement case. It means the creator with Registered Copyright holds power to restrict what others can do with his work. Although copyleft licenses exist within the legal structure of copyrights, their core notion is that the users should be allowed to copy, modify, and distribute works as they want, with only one crucial clause: all derivative works offer the same freedom of use to other users.

  1. Copyleft Is Much More Than Just Permission

Copyleft license is not like a permissive license, which grants users the freedom to do anything they want. Copyleft gives freedom but imposes some demands as well. The most noticeable requirement of the copyleft license is that the users must distribute derivative works under licenses that offer rights, which are either the same or similar to the original work.

For example:  Suppose a photographer gives you a copyleft photo. As a user, you have the right to modify and share that photo however and to whoever you want, but you would also need to permit anyone else to use your work as he wants. It is known as the ‘share-alike’ clause.

Copyleft is beyond just allowing freedom; it demands freedom.

  1. Copyleft Isn’t Always Free

As mentioned above, a copyleft has two aspects:

  • The freedom for users to copy, modify and distribute derivative works
  • The “share-alike” clause to maintain liberty in derivative works.

Nonetheless, there is nothing that makes copyleft work available at no charges. In other words, you may not be able to get a specific copyleft work without paying for it. However, once you do pay for it, you’re free to use it as long as you maintain the same freedoms in the derived work.

Difference between Copyright and Copyleft

Since the concept of copyleft springs out from that of copyright, there can be hardly any comparison between copyright and copyleft. Nevertheless, copyright is restrictive in terms of forbidding third-parties from using rights reserved for the author without his permission whereas copyleft allows third-parties to use the rights liberally but while ensuring that the liberality will not cut off and reaches to every user of the work. In simple words, copyright emphasizes restriction and originality of work of an author, whereas copyleft proffers as well as demands freedom.

Copyright or Copyleft

People often have queries; whether they should go for copyleft, is it right for them, etc. Well, solutions to such questions lie in the author’s will; whether to share the rights with third-parties ready to do the same with others or keep them to himself/ herself. If you go for copyleft licensing, you may sometimes find it a bit harder to make expected money. Besides, even if you succeed in making earnings, they would be significantly less in comparison to that you could have made by traditional copyright rules. Hopefully, this article has given you a better idea about copyright and copyleft that can aid you in making a fair decision. Nevertheless, if any doubt is bothering you, be smart and consult an experienced attorney who can assist you in understanding these legal terms better. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Starbucks Enters Trademark Dispute with a Small Alaska Company

Starbucks is clashing with a small Alaska company named Mountains & Mermaids over a trademark term. The former who is a Seattle-based coffee giant said that Siren’s Brew for which the later filed a Trademark Application is too similar to its branding.

As the Anchorage Daily News reported, Starbucks wants the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reject the application filed by this small Wasilla-based Mountains & Mermaids Company. Applied late last year, the Alaska business has been seeking to get Trademark Registration for the term ‘Siren’s Brew’ for its products since that time. It has branded its apparel with the image of a siren or mermaid holding a cup of coffee and recently began using the design on coffee.

Starbucks in an opposition filed in August this year said that it applied to trademark ‘Siren’s Blend’ for its coffee products in February 2019, but the USPTO has refused the application as of May, based on a possibility of confusion with Siren’s Brew.

Starbucks continued by saying that the long-time use of siren in its branding doesn’t end up with its famous green logo. Instead, it has extended the brand’s use of the term as per its filing. Employees use the word to refer to its business and products, added Starbucks.

Starbucks further in an emailed statement announced that for near about half a century, it has invested in establishing a relation between a siren and coffee. Besides being an integral part of the Starbucks’ logo since the brand got established in 1971, the siren is the face of the company to the world.

On the other side, Monica Hamilton owning Mountains & Mermaids along with her daughter named Sarah said that they were shocked to know about Starbucks’ opposition in regards to their trademark application. She added that there is no confusion at all. They are neither interested in interfering with Starbucks’ business nor want them to interfere with theirs.

Launched in 2017, Alaska Company is an online retailer with many of its products sporting nautical imagery. The term ‘Siren’s Brew’ of this company applies to the products such as hoodies mugs, stickers, etc., that include the design of a siren or mermaid holding a coffee cup. The quote incorporated in the design asserts that a siren needs her morning coffee before a day of wrecking ships and drowning men.

Eric Pelton, a lawyer on behalf of Mountains & Mermaids, said that whatever term Starbucks’ workers use within the company to describe their business is not the same as a Registered Trademark. Mr. Pelton also said that he plans to submit a response to Starbucks’ opposition to the USPTO next week. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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How to Use Copyrighted Material for Advertising Free from legal Concerns?

All may not be aware of this, but advertising is as old as commerce and civilization. Nearly 3, 000 years ago, people tended to promulgate their products and services on clay tablets, through town criers, etc.; however, advancements in technology have changed the ways people advertise their business today. Companies nowadays beckon potential customers by using pamphlets, brochures, billboards, radio and TV communications, commercial text messages, email advertisements, and many other advertising tools.

With the availability of so many options to advertise products and make consumers buy them, more and more businesses are moving towards advertising, thus turning the industry comparatively more competitive than ever before. Besides competitive, advertising appears a costly affair for most entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Ultimately, the limited budget and the human tendency to exaggerate quick benefits in the cut-throat challenging era make people advertise their business by using the copyrighted products of others. It is because creating new items often demands high investments in comparison to accessing copyrighted ones, but advertising in this manner may lead to Copyright Infringement issues. Hence, if you want to use others’ copyrighted materials in your business ads, then make sure to do so while keeping the legal concerns at bay. It is easily possible by getting information about the legal policies on how to use copyrighted items without facing legal concerns.

Copyright law and Advertising

Copyright law facilitates the creator of creative work with exclusive rights that help them in preventing unauthorized users from using their work. The copyright rights limit people from making profits by accessing any material without obtaining the owner’s permission. According to this law, the person who violates the copyrights of others could have to pay a fine as a penalty for infringing someone’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). Since the same policies apply to the advertising industry also, there’s a need to be cautious while using copyrighted materials in your ads. Some copyrighted items that you might desire to use in advertising include:

 

  • Pieces of literature
  • Song recordings
  • Photographs
  • Art

Copyright Basics

As copyright rights are country-specific, they often vary from nation to nation. Therefore, before using any copyrighted work in advertising, you should be familiar with its copyright status as per that nation. For instance, the copyright law of the US states that the tangible items created after 1978 are capable of obtaining Copyright Protection automatically. The owners neither have to display a copyright symbol on them nor need to register them with the U.S. Copyright Office. On the other side, materials manufactured before 1978 should either have a copyright symbol or be registered. Becoming familiar with the copyright status of any item in that particular nation isn’t enough; make sure to know about their use as well.

Commercial Use

Most people desire to use the copyrighted material for commercial purposes but such usage, whether in advertising or any other area, is not permitted without the owners’ permission. Nevertheless, the items published before 1923 are acknowledged under the public domain and therefore, allowed to be used in commercials. Note that the materials published after 1923 get the copyright protection that lasts for 95 years from the time of publication and 120 years from the day of creation and can’t be used (without permission) during these periods.

Fair Use

Fair use is one of the most noticeable exceptions to U.S. copyright laws. It enables people to use copyrighted works, but only if doing so benefits the public, cultural activities, or educational contexts. For instance, an ad that can help people quit smoking can use a quote, sentence, or paragraph from a copyrighted medical textbook. Ads that educate the public about bullying, drug use, etc., also fall under the same category, i.e., fair use. Although this category permits the use of copyrighted materials, you must display a clear purpose of the advertisement associated with public welfare and use the snippets of the items. If you fail to do so, then you may fall into legal issues. Besides, remember that no law provides apparent information about how much use of a copyrighted item is permissible. For example, you may use some lines of others’ textbook but not some pages of the same.

Permission for Use

As per this policy, you can use someone else’s copyrighted work in your advertising, but after obtaining a license that the licensor may provide you in exchange for a set amount. Hence, you have to determine the licensor by finding and viewing the name located next to the copyright symbol. In some cases, when there is no symbol or name on the item, you should search for the name online on the U.S. Copyright Office website. This category emphasizes money but not always, like owners of lesser-recognized work can permit you to use their work only in exchange for publicity by having their name somewhere in your ads. It means you can enjoy profitable advertising for your business that too without paying any money.

Advertisements are one of the common targets for Intellectual Property infringement lawsuits. If you are not cautious, you can lose your brand reputation and face financial losses. Here, we have tried to provide vital data that can help you protect your ads and prevent legal troubles. As prevention is always better than cure, before launching any advertising campaign in the future, be sure that it suffice both a general legal perspective and an IP perspective. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Dindigul Lock and Kandangi Saree from Tamil Nadu Get GI Tag

Geographical Indications Registry has recently granted GI (Geographical Indication) tag to Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul locks and Kandangi sarees, thus providing the Dindigul Lock, Hardware and Steel Furniture Workers Industrial Co-operative Society Limited and the Amrar Rajiv Gandhi Handloom Weavers Cooperative Production and Sales Society Limited, that applied for the certification, with exclusive rights over these products.

Dindigul Locks

The high quality and durability of these locks are the reasons; why they are famous worldwide, why the manufacturing city is known as Lock City, and why most government institutions such as hospitals, godowns, temples, and even prisons use these locks rather than the machine-made ones.

Started by Sankaralingachari brothers, the lock-making industry in Dindigul is nearly 150 years old, spread over a wide area of 5 villages in the district and consists of more than 3,125 lock manufacturing units located in Kodaiparailpatti, Kamalapatti, Nagelnagar, Nallampatti, and Yagappanpatti.

The artisans working in this industry use the raw materials like MS flat plates and brass plates procured from the nearby towns such as Salem and Madurai to make around 50 varieties of Dindigul locks. Every lock made by them possesses a unique style and an unusual name like Mango Lock, Export Lock, Door Lock, Almirah Lock, Excise Lock, Trick Lock, Drawer Lock, Square lock, Mango Seven Levers Lock, and Mango Nine Levers Lock.

The availability of plenty of iron in this region is the reason behind the growth of this industry.

Kandangi Sarees

Manufactured in Karaikudi taluk in the Sivaganga district, Kandangi sarees are the hand-woven sarees characterized by their large contrast borders. Sometimes, the borders are so large that they cover nearly two-third part of the whole saree, which is 5.10 m-5.60 m long.

These cotton sarees are being made by the adept weavers of Devanga Chettiars for women of Chettiar community, also recognized as Nakarathars or Nattukottai Chettiars for the last 50 years. They take over a week to make a single exquisite Kandangi saree.  As these cotton sarees well suit the summer season, customers often buy them in bulk.

Traditionally, Kandangi sarees were famous for their unique borders of temple checks design and were all brick-red, black, and mustard, a combination that flatters almost every type of complexion.

Deputy Registrar of Geographical Indications Registry, Chinnaraja G. Naidu, told that Dindigul lock and Kandangi saree have received the GI tag on August 29, 2019, and GI for these products was filed by GI Advocate Sanjai Gandhi and Chennai-based Intellectual Property Attorney. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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