Intellectual Property Rights Lawyer in West Virginia

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, while the federal agency reviews several hundred thousand copyright claims annually, only a half million of those end up in registrations.

The latest data published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows that in the most recent recorded year, 2020, there were 645,989 combined utility, design, and plant patent applications filed that year, with 388,341 that were actually issued. We share these statistics regarding two of the most common forms of intellectual property (IP) to illustrate how many individuals or entities take time to protect their creative works so that they alone can benefit from their existence.

However, there’s one detail each intellectual property rights lawyer in West Virginia knows all too well.

People will try hard to violate your IP rights and profit off of something they didn’t create to try and gain the accolades and financial benefits that come with nuanced thinking and invention. But Charleston commercial litigators like ours don’t stand for it.

We provide aggressive defense for IP holders, including those with copyrights, patents, registered trademarks, trade secrets, and more. We’re primed and ready to investigate your claim and defend your rights to these valuable assets, too.

Contact our firm to discuss any concerns you have about the unauthorized use of your intellectual property so we can get to work for you.

IP Defense Services That Our Law Firm Provides

Our office’s attorneys specialize in intellectual property rights defense. Some of the related violations that we’ve supported corporate clients with over the years include:

• Violations of contractual agreements and dissemination of proprietary material: We go after those who, despite being subject to non-disclosure or non-compete agreements, used proprietary information, like trade secrets, and violated them for their gain. We show that you took reasonable measures to restrict access and dissemination of that proprietary material and that, despite those measures, the alleged violator not only got their hands on that information but did so in a way that caused you financial harm.
• Assessment and prosecution of intellectual property infringement: This may include assessing if your alleged infringer’s use of your protected material is authorized per the Fair Use Rule of the Copyright Act or the use of your slogans, logos, and other trademarked or copyrighted material without consent
• Tracking down counterfeiters: The illegal activity of counterfeiting often spans multiple jurisdictions, and in cases like these, having demonstrative proof of offenders’ actions can be critical to seeking justice. This may involve securing digital evidence, such as from websites where the items are being sold or actual samples of counterfeit goods. Our prosecution of these cases aids in restoring your brand’s reputation and helps you recover the lost profits you sustained.
• Challenging others’ patents: It’s not uncommon for competitors to design or develop similar logos, products, or processes in an attempt to either confuse consumers and/or regain some of their lost market share. Attorneys like ours at Hendrickson & Long, PLLC often compare similar patents and, when necessary, follow USPTO opposition procedures with the goal of getting a nullification of a competitor’s patent or registered trademark.

The above are just a few examples of services we provide in this practice area. Reach out to our office to schedule a consultation with an intellectual property rights lawyer in West Virginia.

Strategies Our Attorneys Employ To Defend Your Rights to Protected Materials

When a prospective client approaches us with a potential violation of their rights, our first step is to investigate the matter to confirm it indeed violates the presiding West Virginia or federal intellectual property laws.

Attorneys in our practice area will typically take a more conservative approach, in the beginning, to try and resolve any potential conflicts so as to keep the potential investment of time and, thus, legal costs low. This usually involves drafting a letter to the violator notifying them of your ownership over the IP and that using it without your permission is unlawful.

Should that cease-and-desist letter not resolve the matter, the filing of a lawsuit may be warranted.

As you might suspect, a lot of work goes into getting to the point of filing this legal complaint, including extensive analysis of evidence of violations, case law, reviews of contracts signed and correspondence exchanged, and the conduction of interviews. Thus, the costs can be more sizable when pursuing this type of legal action.

At the same time, should you win your case, you’ll be able to recover damages, including any lost profits you would have otherwise made.

Seeking Help in Protecting Your Valuable Proprietary Assets

Business owners and intellectual property violators have one thing in common, which is that they both realize that those proprietary assets have a monetary value.

Someone violating your IP rights can cause a significant reduction in demand for your product, your company to lose its competitive edge, or irreparable damage to your brand’s reputation, leading to unnecessary financial harm or even your brand’s demise.

Whether you’re facing one of the intellectual property disputes or related contract issues described above or something different, our experienced corporate defense team at Hendrickson & Long, PLLC can likely help.

Reach out to our law office to discuss your unique situation so an intellectual property rights lawyer can advise you of legal options available to you to pursue in your respective case.