Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

There are a number of things you can do. You can write them a letter demanding payment. Or, you can hire an attorney to write a letter demanding that they stop using your work and demanding payment which may tell them that you mean business. Hopefully they pay. Or, you can register your work with the copyright office as your own. Then you can file suit claiming a number of things including copyright infringment and breach of contract. A number of things hinge on the wording of the agreement between you and the other party. I would suggest that you consult an attorney to discuss the details and a possible strategy. My firm handles intellectual property and commercial disputes. Feel free to contact me via email at [email protected]

The post by Mr Pavlinski is good advice. Remember copyrights vest automatically, so you have a copyright, but Federal District Courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over copyright infringement lawsuits, since copyrights are created by Congress pursuant to Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution and not under state law. For the District Court to hear a copyright infringement claim the copyright owner must have either a copyright registration or an application for copyright registration, you need to register your designs before you can take take the seasonings company to court. It is a quick process that you can do online, and simple enough to do yourself, although if you are going to go to court over this it would be wise to have a copyright attorney do the copyright registration to be more sure it is optimally done for later use in Court.

Finally, consider your trademark position and whether there is also trademark infringement, as that would give a second cause of action (second "count" in a complaint. If you are taking the seasons company to court, then you will for sure want a Trademark or Intellectual Property Attorney to prepare the TM application as that will be Examined, generally very thoroughly.

There are other strategic considerations that are important, but we give those to paying clients. Call and join us in the initial assertion of your IP together. You will want to have as many weapons to use if you pursue this matter.

Good Luck, and call if we can help. We are located in Alton, Illinois but do about equal parts applications and litigation work.

Assuming that you own the copyright in those designs; I cannot determine this without analyzing your relationship with the seasonings company, one remedy would be to obtain a copyright registration in those designs and then sue the company for copyright infringement. See http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ40.pdf and other materials at www.copyright.gov. You might also have a contract claim against that company for non-payment of your compensation.

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