How to Strengthen a Copyright Infringement Claim

Copyright laws can protect your ideas, so if someone infringes on one of your copyrights, you’re well within your rights to take action. That said, it can sometimes be difficult to demonstrate when your copyright has been violated.

How do you strengthen your copyright infringement claim?

Establish and Verify Your Copyright Ownership

First, it’s important to establish and verify your copyright ownership. Although you do have some intellectual property rights without having to file any paperwork, you’ll have a much stronger legal argument if you have a formal copyright in place. If you’ve already done this work, track down all your documents and review them for accuracy. If you haven’t yet filed for a copyright, now is the time to do so. Be sure you also document and can speak to the creation process as well, as this may become important later.

Hire a Great Lawyer

Next, hire a lawyer with significant experience in intellectual property rights. Your lawyer will guide you through most of this process, helping you consolidate paperwork, investigate potential infringement, and ultimately put together a case. They’re going to represent you in negotiations and at trial, if the case goes to court, and they can recommend additional strategies and resources that can benefit you.

Gather Evidence

Together with your lawyer and the rest of your team, you can then work on gathering evidence to strengthen your copyright infringement claim.

  • Hire an expert witness. An expert witness in your field can be a massive benefit as you compile evidence for copyright infringement. An expert witness is likely familiar with the typical standards and practices in your field, so they can identify instances of copyright infringement quickly and reliably. They can also assist with the investigative and analytic work necessary to prove that a copyright has been violated.
  • Look for previous access. In many cases, copyright infringement stems from some kind of breach or leak. The people responsible for violating your intellectual property rights likely had access to your products or services at some point. This could be because of a corporate spy, a disgruntled employee, or a security failure on your end. In any case, it pays to identify points of previous access that could have led to copyright infringement.
  • Document similarities. Pay close attention to substantial similarities between your product and the product you’re evaluating. Is it possible that these similarities are coincidental? Is it possible that these similarities are permissible under current copyright law? Your lawyer can help you navigate the nuances of these questions, but if you want a strong copyright infringement claim, you need to be able to prove that at least some substantial material has been unjustly copied.
  • Note the extent of the copying. You should also note the extent of the copying. The more details you can list, the better. You’ll have a much stronger case if the products are extremely similar, with many core features and qualities in common.
  • Look at the totality of the circumstances. Finally, review the totality of the circumstances. Strong copyright infringement claims have robust bodies of evidence to show not only fundamental similarities between the objects in question, but also a viable course that led the infringer to have access to the copyrighted material.

Anticipate Defenses

As any good lawyer can tell you, part of building a strong case is anticipating possible defenses. Accordingly, you should work together with your legal team to speculate about potential defenses your opponents might raise.

Copyrighted material can be used legally in certain situations. For example, Fair Use laws allow copyrighted material to be used in the context of criticism, news reporting, education, commentary, scholarship, research, and parody. The burden of proof will be on them to show that they were allowed to use this copyrighted material, but you still need to be able to attack their position.

Explore Remedies

There are many remedies available to victims of copyright infringement, including injunctions, monetary damages, or statutory damages. If you want to maximize your potential results, you should have an idea of what you’re trying to receive.

Negotiate

Most copyright infringement claims don’t go to court. Instead, they’re resolved through alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Accordingly, you should be prepared to negotiate with your lawyer and work out a mutually amenable solution without resorting to trial. This approach can save you a lot of time, money, and unnecessary stress.

Copyright law is complicated, and building a strong case for a copywriting stringent claim can be similarly difficult. However, with the help of a strong legal team, an experienced expert witness, and a commitment to building the strongest case possible, you can put yourself in a significantly more favorable position.