Defending your home, car, and other physical properties is a pretty common concern, but not everyone thinks about how their intellectual property might also need protection. Intellectual property is defined as any intangible item produced with the use of a person’s intelligence and creativity. This might include a musical composition, a newly engineered part, a logo, or an original mechanism. If someone steals part or all of your idea or creation, you might have an intellectual property dispute on your hands.
In order to find out if you have a case, make sure you know how intellectual property is defined, how it can be protected, and what you should do if your rights were violated.
About Intellectual Property
Anyone in a creative line of work has intellectual property. This might be something you conjure up in an office, a workshop, or even at home as a side job. Whatever the case, if you generate new ideas and put them into action as tangible designs, test products, or composed pieces of music or art, you have intellectual property.
Intellectual property might also refer to the sharing of trade secrets. When someone works at one company and then moves to another within that same line of business, they might be obligated to keep the trade secrets they learned at their first job under wraps. Likewise, a competitor might steal client lists or private ideas and compositions from another company, which could be considered theft of intellectual property.
Protecting Your Creations
In order to protect your property or that of your business, make sure you understand your rights. There are four main types of intellectual property: copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. If a person’s intellectual property is used or reproduced without their permission, it could be a case of infringement.
What To Do Next
If another company or individual stole your intellectual property, you need to take immediate action to protect yourself and exercise your rights. Whether they steal part of your idea or the entire design, any sort of theft is of this type can be considered illegal. Intellectual property disputes can be extremely complex and problematic if handled incorrectly, which is why it’s so important to work with a business litigation lawyer you trust. If you’re dealing with an infringement issue, contact your attorney immediately and discuss your situation in full. An experienced, knowledgeable lawyer will inform you of your rights and discuss the next step for your case. At this point, you might consider filing a lawsuit if you have a viable claim.
At Lyons & Simmons, our firm knows how to litigate patent infringement cases. We know how complex these cases can be, and we know what legal methods work best in Texas courts. Our essential goal is to present a good store, something the court will understand, even if they aren’t tech-savvy or mathematically-minded. We know how frustrating it can be to have your ideas stolen from you, and we want to help you fight for justice, enforcing the rights of copyright, trademark, or patent.
Contact Lyons & Simmonsto discuss your intellectual property case with our business litigation attorneys in Dallas, Texas.