Los Angeles Intellectual Property Lawyers

Some of the most valuable business assets are “intellectual property.” This can include inventions, formulas, creative works of art, and even photographs and videos. Intellectual property can be legally protected with copyrights, trademarks, patents, and non-disclosure agreements for trade secrets. The law provides strong protections for intellectual property, but some laws that safeguard legitimate intellectual property rights may be used against honest businesses to get quick settlements.

The Los Angeles intellectual property lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP have experience protecting businesses against plaintiffs’ lawyers who use the power and complexity of intellectual property laws in a way they were not intended. The Tauler Smith LLP legal team can also protect your intellectual property if you are a content creator, photographer, model, artist, or marketing service and your hard work was stolen from you without compensation. Contact us today to discuss your legal options.

California IP Attorneys Who Will Protect Your Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Secrets

Intellectual property law is incredibly complex and often involves a number of different legal claims. Tauler Smith LLP is a California law firm that represents clients in cases involving all aspects of intellectual property law.

Here are just a few of the areas of IP law that our attorneys can assist you with:

Copyright Infringement

Copyright is a legitimate way to protect your business, or your personal creations, so that you can enjoy the benefits of your work without other people using it for themselves and failing to pay you. Copyright law prevents competitors from copying things like the way your products look and the color scheme used on your products, and it also protects specific things like computer code, video games, audio recordings, and video recordings. Copyright protection can also go beyond commercial products to cover any original work of authorship, including books or novels, poems, stage plays, screenplays, movies, photographs, songs, and website content. Additionally, if you are a social media influencer, you could use copyright law to protect your work.

When you discover that someone is copying your work, it may become necessary to file a copyright infringement lawsuit to stop the unlawful use of your copyright and to get monetary compensation for any damages you suffered as a result. An experienced copyright lawyer can assist you throughout the legal process, which may include sending a cease and desist letter to the infringing party, negotiating with the other party to reach a favorable settlement in advance of trial, or taking the copyright infringement claim to federal court for compensatory and statutory damages.

Copyright Defense

The most common type of lawsuit for copyright infringement is brought by “copyright trolls” who sue online businesses for quick settlements, usually based on reproduction of a photograph on social media like Instagram. Our law firm has helped bring copyright trolls to justice and can often put an end to the problem, usually by responding to a copyright infringement letter.

If you have received a copyright infringement letter, a copyright takedown notice, or a DMCA notice, the L.A. copyright lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP can protect your rights and defend you against the other party’s legal claim. We know how to respond to copyright claims made against you, and we know how to protect your business or social media presence. Our attorneys have experience winning copyright lawsuits and stopping lawsuits from happening. Copyright demand letters often ask for very large amounts of money to “settle” cases that can be frivolous. The Tauler Smith copyright attorneys have dealt with these “copyright trolls,” and we have resolved disputes for pennies on the dollar or for no settlement amount at all if the copyright demand letter was frivolous.

Trademark Infringement

A trademark is a word, phrase, slogan, symbol, or design that distinguishes a good or product, or its source, from other similar goods or products. Your trademark might involve your company name, identity, logo, and any goodwill that has been established through your trademark. When someone else uses your company’s name, identity, or logo, or palms off their products as your trademarked goods, it can result in brand confusion. This is especially damaging when customers have come to identify certain products or services with your particular business or brand. Trademark law protects against competitors that copy how your products look in packaging or marketing.

The Los Angeles trademark attorneys at Tauler Smith LLP will help to protect your trademark rights and your business. If your trademark infringement case requires litigation, an attorney can bring the claim in court and help you get compensation for any damage to your brand.

Trade Secrets

Some companies have proprietary information – such as secret formulas, preferred vendors, client lists, and pricing information – that is protected from use by former employees or competitors. The law protects businesses from theft of trade secrets by former employees or competing businesses who would gain an unfair advantage by using a company’s trade secrets.

The trade secret attorneys at Tauler Smith LLP have experience bringing and defending trade secret claims on behalf of companies applying California law, Texas law, and Florida law, in addition to federal trade secret law. Federal law has expanded since Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act in 2016, giving individuals and companies the option to pursue trade secret claims in federal court. If you believe that someone has stolen or used your trade secrets, they can be held responsible – even if they are located overseas in a foreign location such as China or Europe.

Additionally, our intellectual property lawyers know how to defend individuals and business competitors against false allegations of trade secret theft. If you are a former employee who signed a confidentiality agreement or a non-disclosure agreement prior to termination, and your old boss is using trade secret law to try to control your career, our legal team can help you.

Right of Publicity

Several states, including California, have right of publicity laws that recognize and protect the name and likeness rights of any individual. In many cases, companies use images of models or celebrities to promote their products or services, but they cannot do this without having the legal right of publicity from that person. Every person has the right to make money from (or license) their own name, or even their own likeness. For example, it is not uncommon for companies to use a person’s likeness in video games without their permission. In other cases, people use Instagram creators or models to promote products and services without permission. When a company or individual uses your likeness to make money, they need to get permission or consent to do so, or else they must pay to license your image, as well as all of the attorney’s fees you had to spend to get them to comply with the law.

Tauler Smith LLP has successfully taken on many right of publicity cases on contingency, which means you will not have to pay for an attorney to represent you if you have a strong case.

Southern California Intellectual Property Lawyers Who Represent Both Plaintiffs and Defendants in IP Litigation

The Tauler Smith LLP legal team includes nationally recognized lawyers who are routinely cited in the most prominent legal journals and called upon to provide analysis for both national and local media outlets. Our intellectual property lawyers have been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian, among other prominent publications.

Our main office is located in the Financial District in Downtown Los Angeles, and we regularly represent both corporate and individual clients in LA County and the surrounding area, including Santa Monica, Venice, Bel Air, Pacific Palisades, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Pasadena. We also provide representation in IP matters throughout California and the United States.

Our California IP lawyers know how to win at trial: we have successfully litigated many high-profile cases and secured multi-million-dollar jury verdicts on behalf of our clients. You can view some of our most recent success stories here. Additionally, for cutting-edge analysis of the latest developments in IP law and other important intellectual property topics, check out the Tauler Smith Legal Blog.

Contact the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Attorneys at Tauler Smith LLP

An intellectual property case might involve bringing a claim against an entity or person who is infringing on your IP rights, or it might involve responding to an illegitimate claim against your own intellectual property rights. The bottom line is that your intellectual property assets are valuable, and it may be necessary to secure qualified legal representation to litigate your IP case and safeguard your interests.

If someone is infringing on your copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property, the Los Angeles IP lawyers at Tauler Smith LLP can answer your questions, address your concerns, and protect your rights. Contact us today by calling 310-590-3927, or by filling out the online contact form to schedule a confidential consultation.