Take action against someone misusing your IP
Someone is using your work, and what you do next decides whether that stops.You have seen it: your design, your name, your material, being used by someone who never asked. The first question isn’t whether it is unfair, it is what right you actually hold and how strong it is. That decides everything from the tone of the first letter to whether a court is worth it. We establish the right, put the other side on notice properly, and take it as far as it needs to go. Most of these end without a hearing, and they end faster when the first move is the correct one.
The right established first
You find out what you can actually prove before you commit money to acting on it.
A demand that lands
The letter is pitched to the strength of your position, which decides whether it is taken seriously or filed.
A record of enforcement
Rights that are seen to be enforced are infringed less often, and delay is harder to hold against you.
What can you actually do when someone uses your IP?
Enforcement usually starts with a letter of demand and ends in a negotiated outcome, with court as the pressure behind it rather than the first step. What you can demand depends on the right. A registered trade mark gives you the clearest position under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) (the Trade Marks Act), while copying of material, code or designs is dealt with under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (the Copyright Act). Where neither applies neatly, misleading conduct and passing off can still reach someone trading off your reputation. The remedies are an order to stop, and either the loss you suffered or the profits they made.
Do I have to go to court to stop someone using my IP?
Usually not. Most matters end with a letter of demand and a negotiated outcome: an undertaking to stop, a rebrand, or a licence on your terms. Court is the pressure that makes those conversations work, and it is only needed when the other side will not move.
How do I know whether what they are doing is actually infringement?
It depends on the right and on how close the use is. A registered trade mark is the most straightforward, because the question is whether their sign is deceptively similar to yours for similar goods. Copying of material or code is assessed differently, and we will tell you which framework applies.
What can I recover if someone has infringed my IP?
An order to stop is usually the main point. Beyond that you can seek either the loss you suffered or the profits they made, and in flagrant cases a court can award additional damages. Which is worth pursuing depends on how much they actually made.
Is there a time limit on acting?
There are limitation periods, but the more immediate problem is practical. The longer you leave it, the easier it is for the other side to argue you did not object. It also becomes harder to get an urgent order, so acting early keeps the most options open.
Not sure how strong your position is?
Send us what you have registered, what you have created, and what they are doing. We will tell you honestly how strong the right is before you send anything to them.
A right you never enforce quietly stops being one
Someone is using your intellectual property and you don’t know whether you can make them stop, or what it would cost to try. Acting on a right you cannot establish is expensive and can leave you worse off than saying nothing. Doing nothing has its own price: the use continues, it becomes normal, and your ability to object weakens the longer it runs. You need the strength of your position before you need anything else.
- We will establish what you own and whether the evidence supports it.
- We will assess the infringement and what remedies are realistically available.
- We will send a letter of demand pitched to the strength of your position.
- We will negotiate a resolution, or issue proceedings if that is what it takes.
You built it, and someone is selling it back to your market
It might be a former employee who left with more than they should have, a competitor whose new product looks unmistakably like yours, or a business trading under a name close enough to confuse your customers. You found out from a client, or from a search you did for another reason entirely. What makes it hard to sit with is that the work was yours and the benefit is theirs, and every week you spend deciding is a week they keep it.
What's included in your IP enforcement service
- An assessment of the rights you hold and the evidence behind them.
- Advice on the remedies available and which are worth pursuing.
- A letter of demand drafted to avoid an unjustified threats claim.
- Negotiation of undertakings, a licence or compensation.
- Court proceedings where the matter cannot be resolved.
Delay is the argument the other side will use
The longer an infringement runs unchallenged, the more the other side can say you knew and did not mind, and the harder it becomes to get an urgent order to stop. Meanwhile their version reaches your customers, and if it is worse than yours the complaints still arrive at your door. A wrongly aimed letter carries its own cost: threaten infringement proceedings without grounds and you can find yourself defending a claim for unjustified threats, which turns your complaint into their case. And if the material was never properly assigned to you by the contractor or employee who made it, you may not hold the right you are trying to enforce. That is a discovery best made before the letter goes out.
How the use stops
We establish the right first: what you own, how you came to own it, and whether the evidence is there to prove it. Then the demand goes out framed to the strength of that position, which is what decides whether it is taken seriously or filed. Most matters resolve here, through an undertaking to stop, a rebrand, a licence on your terms, or a payment, and we negotiate that rather than waiting to see what they offer. If they won’t move, we take it to court, where the orders available are an injunction and either damages or an account of their profits. You get the use stopped, and a record that your rights are enforced.
How an enforcement action runs
Establish the right, then make the demand that matches it.Establish the right
We confirm what you own and whether the evidence supports it, which decides how hard the first letter can be.
Put them on notice
We send a demand pitched to the strength of your position, with the outcome we want stated rather than implied.
Settle or sue
We negotiate the undertaking, licence or payment, and issue proceedings if that is what it takes.
The strength of your position, before you commit to acting on it
Infringement is unusual among legal problems because the unfairness is obvious to you and completely invisible to everyone else until it is proved. That gap between knowing you are right and being able to show it is where most of the frustration sits, and it is the part a letter cannot skip.
We have 2 Accredited Specialists in Business Law. We are ISO 9001 accredited as well, so what happens on your file, and when you hear about it, are defined rather than assumed.
Our great lawyer guarantee
Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.
Take the time
We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.
Share our knowledge
We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.
Stick to our knitting
We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.
Work as one team
Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.
Fair pricing
A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.
It is your show
We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.
Make it stop
Send us what you own and what they are doing with it. We will tell you how strong your position is and what the first move should be.
More on this area of law
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