QUESTION
What to do about a company stealing my work?
Asked on Oct 15th, 2016 on Intellectual Property - Florida
More details to this question:
I own a small publishing company which produced a DVD that I authored and starred in. This DVD has been for sale on the market in retail stores and online throughout the United States and Canada since 2010. It is one of our top selling titles. I have been made aware that a very large US corporation has been replicating the disc and packaging it with it's other products without my permission. On their outside packaging, they include the full name of the DVD, my company, my full name and my image. I own all of the rights to this product and I have not authorized use to anyone. This corporation has been selling this package throughout the US, Canada and the UK that I know of. My best guess is they have used it since 2010 to current. I have found several websites that they distribute it through, and have seen it in retail stores.
1 ANSWER
First, make sure you have obtained copyright registrations on all of your materials. If you have not then you need to file for an expedited copyright registration with the US Copyright office(www.copyright.gov) that is if you are the author of the original materials. Second, you need to send a cease and desist letter to the large US Corporation demanding that they remove all of your materials from their packages, demand an inventory of how much they have sold of your materials and demand they pay you a royalty for every package sold. If the US Corporation does not respond then you will need to file a Copyright infringement case in federal court against the US Corporation. I would need more information to advise you further since there is the possibility that there are issues of trademark infringment and unfair competition. Good luck to you.
Answered on Oct 17th, 2016 at 6:56 AM