When trademark rights are violated, brand owners can invoke robust legal protections. Courts can act to halt counterfeit operations, award substantial damages, and even order the removal of fake products from the marketplace.
Money isn’t the only remedy available. Courts can order corrective advertising to repair brand reputation, force the recall of infringing products, or require infringers to turn over their profits. Each remedy serves a specific purpose — from stopping current violations to deterring future ones.
These legal safeguards transform intellectual property from abstract rights into concrete market protection. But success requires knowing which options to use and when. Evidence must prove both the violation and the harm. Through careful evidence-gathering and tactical decisions, brands can defend their market position decisively.
What Are Trademark Infringement Remedies?
Trademark infringement remedies are the legal actions a trademark owner can obtain from a court to stop unauthorized use of their mark and compensate for harm. They typically include orders to cease the infringement, monetary damages or profits, and, in some cases, the destruction of infringing goods and recovery of legal costs.
Why Protecting Your Trademark Matters
Your company name, logo and other carefully constructed brand assets are the heart of your business — the foundation on which your reputation rests. Protecting these assets through trademarking ensures that other brands can’t use them or, if they do, you will be entitled to damages.
Without trademarking, other businesses could use your name or a similar logo, leading to confusion among customers. At best, you might lose a few sales when your customers end up on the wrong website — at worst, the poor quality of a copycat brand could hamstring your reputation.
A protected trademark becomes a powerful business asset. You control how others use your mark, create revenue through licensing, and even leverage it for business loans. Every dollar you’ve invested in building your brand needs this protection, especially in a new digital era when new competitors can launch overnight and reach your customers with a few clicks.
Key Remedies for Trademark Infringement
When your trademark has been infringed, you need to know your options for fighting back. Here are the key legal remedies available to protect your brand and hold infringers accountable for their actions.
Injunctions
When someone’s misusing your trademark, the most urgent thing is to stop them before they do more damage to your brand. Injunctions are court orders that can halt unauthorized use of your mark, and they’re often crucial when you need to protect your brand reputation quickly and effectively.
The courts provide three distinct types of injunctions to fit different situations. For urgent cases, you can obtain a temporary restraining order within days. During the course of your lawsuit, a preliminary injunction offers ongoing protection. If you prevail in your case, a permanent injunction can be issued, preventing the infringer from ever using your mark again – giving you lasting protection for your trademark rights.
Monetary Damages
When someone infringes on your trademark, you can get compensated for your losses in several ways. The courts have set up the following types of monetary damages to cover various situations you might face.
- Actual damages:
They are the most straightforward way to recover your losses. You’ll need to show concrete evidence of how the infringement hurt your business, like lost sales, damaged reputation, or marketing costs spent fixing the problem. This can include everything from canceled orders to the money you spent doing damage control for your brand.
- Statutory damages:
These are pre-set amounts that can make your life easier when exact numbers are hard to prove. Instead of getting bogged down trying to calculate precise losses, you can rely on these predetermined figures established by law. This option can be beneficial in cases where the damage is real but harder to quantify.
- Account of Profits:
With an account of profits, you can go after whatever money the infringer made from using your mark without permission. This means they’ll need to open their books and show exactly how much they earned while using your trademark. It’s a way to ensure that they don’t get to keep their profits from infringing your trademark.
- Punitive damages:
Punitive damages come into play when someone’s actions are particularly flagrant or intentional. These damages go beyond just compensating you. They’re meant to punish the infringer and send a message to others thinking about doing the same thing.
Destruction or Recall of Infringing Goods
Monetary damages alone don’t always cut it. Brand owners often need a more direct solution — completely getting fake products off the market. A court-ordered destruction or recall does exactly that. It lets trademark holders eliminate unauthorized goods that harm their brand. The result is an immediate stop to consumer confusion and brand damage.
These court orders are remarkably effective. Infringers must pull their products from every possible outlet. This includes retail stores, warehouses, and online marketplaces. They also bear all the costs.
Attorney’s Fees and Costs
In trademark cases, the issue of who pays the legal bills isn’t always white and black. While each party typically covers their own legal expenses, courts can award attorney’s fees to the winning side in “exceptional cases.”
This usually means situations where the infringement was intentional or someone filed a frivolous lawsuit just to cause trouble. The key is proving that the other party’s behavior went beyond ordinary trademark disputes.
The court looks at several factors when deciding whether to hand over the legal bill to the losing side. They’ll consider things like how the parties behaved during the lawsuit, whether someone was being unnecessarily difficult, and if there were any attempts to deceive the court.
When awarded, these fees can be substantial. We’re talking about everything from attorney hours and court costs to expert witness fees. It’s like getting a refund on your legal defense, but only if the other side really messed up.
Wrapping Up
The consequences of trademark infringement can be hugely harmful to brands; thus, the remedies available to trademarked assets are significant. From monetary damages to the destruction of counterfeited goods, these resources protect you from any further harm.
While common law trademarking provides a limited degree of localized protection, the best way to defend your hard-won brand assets is with a formal trademark registration. Our Trademark Research Service helps to determine that the foundations of your brand are yours alone.
