If another party infringes upon your copyright, you may incur significant damages. You should not have to stand idly by as your rights are violated. At the same time, you should not have to pick up the pieces in its aftermath alone. Instead, it may be in your best interest to gain legal representation and pursue a copyright infringement lawsuit. Continue reading to learn the types of compensation you can seek in a copyright infringement lawsuit and how an experienced New Jersey copyright lawyer at The Ingber Law Firm can help you with its recovery.
What types of compensation can I recover in a copyright infringement lawsuit?
Generally speaking, you may attempt to claim three different types of damages to recover financial compensation in your copyright infringement lawsuit: actual damages, statutory damages, and the infringer’s profits.
First of all, actual damages are considered to be the losses that you, as the copyright owner, directly suffered due to another party’s act of infringement. You may calculate the total of these damages by accounting for the reduced sales of the copyrighted work or the loss of profits from licensing the work. Understandably so, computing an accurate total may pose difficulty. This is why it is recommended to retain an expert who can make these calculations and testify to the court on your behalf.
But if calculating actual damages is still deemed challenging, you may seek an amount that is stipulated within a statute, otherwise known as statutory damages. That is, according to the Copyright Act, most ordinary types of infringement constitute statutory damages anywhere between $750 to $30,000 per incident of infringement.
Lastly, as the name suggests, seeking the infringer’s profits may have the court award you the other party’s profits. Importantly, this is done only to the extent that these profits are greater than the actual damages you incurred. With this, you may only have to calculate the other party’s gross revenue.
What is the statute of limitations for a copyright infringement lawsuit?
Successfully recovering actual damages, statutory damages, and/or the infringer’s profits may only be possible if you file your copyright infringement claim on time. That is, the state of New Jersey holds a statute of limitations of three years. So you may only have three years from the date on which an infringing act occurred to bring your lawsuit forward.
This timeline may be shortened or extended depending on the specific circumstances surrounding your case. But generally speaking, missing this deadline by even just one day may translate into a permanent bar from suing the infringer, and subsequently receiving financial compensation and achieving justice.
At the end of the day, if your ownership over a copyright is being threatened, then you need a skilled Essex County, New Jersey intellectual property lawyer by your side. Contact The Ingber Law Firm to retain our services today.
