IP litigation insights on copyright, trademark, domain name, and trade secret disputes.
Copyright protects original expression once an author fixes it in a tangible medium. A lawsuit requires more. A copyright owner must prove ownership of a valid copyright and copying of protectable expression, then connect the requested remedy to admissible evidence and the Copyright Act.
Read MoreCopyright, Lanham Act, patent, trade secret, cybersquatting, and state rights of publicity claims follow different rules for damages, attorney fees, injunctions, and enhanced relief.
Read MoreCopyright infringement defenses may challenge registration, ownership, factual copying, protected expression, secondary liability, timing, or remedies. Current Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit decisions define how each argument works.
Read MoreA copyright claim requires ownership, registration or refusal when Section 411(a) applies, factual copying, and substantial similarity in protected expression.
Read MoreSecondary copyright liability can arise through contributory or vicarious theories. Cox v. Sony now requires intent shown through inducement or a service tailored to infringement.
Read MoreTrade dress protects the visual appearance of a product, its packaging, or a business environment when that appearance identifies source. A protectable claim can concern a bottle configuration, a product line, a restaurant interior, packaging graphics, or a combination of visual elements that consumers associate with one business.
Read MoreTexas law protects trade secrets, but only when the owner protects them first. Courts decide many misappropriation cases on that requirement alone. Companies that ignore it find out in litigation that a court will refuse to protect information the company itself treated as casual, no matter how valuable that information was to the business.
Read MoreTrademark infringement occurs when someone uses a mark in commerce in a way that's likely to confuse consumers about the source, sponsorship, approval, or affiliation of goods or services. The dispute concerns the commercial impression created by the challenged use, with isolated similarities supplying only part of the evidence.
Read MoreSection 43(a) provides separate federal causes of action for false association and false advertising. Texas law supplements those claims through trademark infringement, unfair competition, business disparagement, contract claims, and other causes of action supported by the conduct at issue.
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