There is a fine line between pushing your copyright through the marketplace and unnecessarily hiding it. But if you are too overzealous in your marketing efforts, you may be made a victim of copyright infringement. Continue reading to learn what remedies are provided for copyright infringement and how an experienced New Jersey intellectual property litigation lawyer at The Ingber Law Firm can help you in recovering them.
By definition, what is copyright infringement?
You may be made a victim of copyright infringement if another party uses your original work without your required permission to do so. More specifically, this applies when your original work is protected under copyright law, and therefore the other party infringes upon your exclusive rights as the owner of the original work. Such a violation may occur in any of the following ways:
- Another party reproduces your copyright without authorization.
- Another party distributes your copyright without authorization.
- Another party adapts your copyright without authorization.
- Another party publicly performs your copyright without authorization.
- Another party publicly displays your copyright without authorization.
All in all, any of the above violations may cause your original work to be seriously devalued.
What remedies are offered for copyright infringement?
If you can successfully argue that your copyright was infringed upon by the other party, then the court may grant you remedies so that you may recover from the damages you incurred. In addition to issuing an injunction to stop the infringing acts, the Federal Copyright Act may allow the court to provide any mixture of the following remedies:
- The other party may be ordered to pay the actual dollar amount of damages you incurred and/or profits you lost.
- The other party may be ordered to pay anywhere between $200 to $150,000 for each original work they infringed upon.
- The other party may be ordered to pay all your attorney fees and court fees.
- The other party may be ordered to go to jail.
Even if the other party has no valid defense for using your original work, a remedy may still be difficult to reach. That is, you and the other party may not be able to settle on an appropriate remedy, or the court may be hesitant to order one. In addition, to have the opportunity to receive these remedies in the first place, you must bring your claim forward before the statute of limitations approaches. In the state of New Jersey, this deadline is generally three years from the date of your incident.
Nonetheless, a skilled Essex County, New Jersey intellectual property lawyer at The Ingber Law Firm is here whenever you are ready to initiate your copyright infringement case. Simply give our firm a call at your earliest possible convenience.
