As handcrafted jewelry producers, our cooperative has created literally thousands of original jewelry designs over the past 30 + years. What would be the most effective and practical ways to protect our authorship rights and to defend ourselves from disrespectful commercial predators?
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2The answers are all correct, however you have to pursue claims against those infringing, the government won't do it for you. That means having the ability to have a lawyer and the funding to sue.– Ron BeyerCommented Jan 30, 2022 at 22:53
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In the most unlikely case of winning such a lawsuit,, the Defendant would not pay. I believe this would entail further expenses with kittle or no chance of ever collecting.– Maria AlanizCommented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:17
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1I would like to know what is wrong with this question to deserve a down-vote.– Maria AlanizCommented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:18
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2I wonder why you think winning such a suit us "most unlikely"? As for collecting damages, that very much depends on the circumstances, but if a losing defendant has a bank account, its contents can often be seized.– David SiegelCommented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:39
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1I haven't downvoted, but my guess would be that it's in reaction to your request for specific legal advice, which is considered off-topic.– bdb484Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 4:48
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3 Answers
As the answer by user6726 says such works are automatically protected by US copyright. It would be possible to register them with the copyright office. This is required before bringing a suit for infringement, and if done in advance, preserves the right to statutory damages under 17 USC 504. Statutory damages can be anywhere from $750 to $30,000 per work infringed, or up to $150,000 per work for wilful infringement, as the court may think just. In addition, injunctions against continued infringement are available under 17 USC 502. Under 17 USC 503 allegedly infringing copies and "plates, molds, matrices, masters, tapes, film negatives, or other articles by means of which such copies or phonorecords may be reproduced;" may be impounded. and if the plaintiff wins,
the court may order the destruction or other reasonable disposition of all copies or phonorecords found to have been made or used in violation of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights, and of all plates, molds, matrices, masters, tapes, film negatives, or other articles by means of which such copies or phonorecords may be reproduced.
I believe that "other reasonable disposition " can sometimes include turning infringing copies over to the successful plaintiff.
However, registration requires payment of a fee currently $45 for a single work, or $85 for a group of up to 10 unpublished works. Registering thousands of designs would involve significant costs.
It would be possible for a group of artisans to design and adopt a trademark, and use this on future works, or even incorporate it into the design.
Under 15 USC 1116(d) items offered for sale containing a counterfeit trademark can be seized on suitable application from the trademark owner, but the owner may be liable for damages if this leads to a false seizure.
Damages may be obtained if a trademark is improperly used without permission. Such seized items may later be ordered destroyed. Some of this applies only to registered trademarks. However, trademark registration is a somewhat complex process, and there are fees and expenses involved. Non-US persons are, I understand, required to employ a US trademark attorney, and others are strongly advised to do so.
See 15 USC Chapter 22 for the whole trademark law.
answered Jan 30, 2022 at 22:18
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Answer accepted, even though the registration costs are prohibitive; also, what the lawyer would charge (if we could ever get one to talk with us) and other legal expenses. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:13
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And It would have to be a specialized lawyer who understands jewelry-design. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:24
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@Maria Alaniz copyright registration costs, done in groups of 10, would be only $8.50 per design, and no lawyer would be needed for that. Doing the newer design first and othe4s as funds permitted or as infringements are noted might help. Trademark registration costs might well be prohibitive, but some trademark protection can be gained from use without registration. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:34
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@DavidSiegel What would be the practical form of registering a copyright for a piece of jewel? Photos, video or stereoscopic video evidence of the original? Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 4:32
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1ethical-fair-trade-jewelry.org/… @kisspuska Here find examples of line-drawings used by jewelry makers to define their creations before making them. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 5:37
A work of art is protected by copyright, under US copyright law – see here esp. §908.
Jewelry designs are typically protected under the U.S. copyright law as sculptural works, although in rare cases they may be protected as pictorial works. This Section discusses certain issues that commonly arise in connection with such works.
(followed by a discussion of what jewelry is). The item must be "sufficiently creative or expressive", which we will take to be self-evidently true.
answered Jan 30, 2022 at 21:26
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2Notably, fashion designs and recipes are typically not capable of obtaining intellectual property protections except for specific concrete written descriptions of them. Commented Jan 30, 2022 at 23:40
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Examples of our jewelry designs with "concrete written descriptions" ,ethical-fair-trade-jewelry.org/… Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 2:21
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-1 I would respectfully suggest more specificity especially in consideration of the Mexico and international tags since the U.S. uniquely needs a registration for that copyright not only be subject to the probably never prosecuted criminal form of violations, and a holder be able to sue on them. And the retrospectivity of the registration for purposes of seeking damages is limited. Anyone outside of the U.S. reading this answer would never even imagine any requirement of registration. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 8:08
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@kisspuska "Anyone outside of the U.S. reading this answer would never even imagine any requirement of registration." – Why do you say this? In many respects, USA and Mexico laws have been coordinated. Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 3:00
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@MariaAlaniz “[Because] the U.S. uniquely needs a registration for [a] copyright”. Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 3:10
For new designs a design patent might be appropriate in the U.S. Note that they are for manufactured articles. Manufacturing does not exclude things made by hand but if each item is individually, uniquely designed then it wouldn’t work for you. In most other countries there is a similar protection for the ornamental design of products but it is not usually under the location’s patent system.
answered Jan 30, 2022 at 20:59
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Jewelry designs are usually created as "original-models" to make a mold or a stamping tool for purposes of production in series. Problem is an attorney or a judge who is not a silversmith would not be able to understand the line-drawings that are used to create the prototype (original-model). Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 5:30
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1There are design patents for all types of items. See this example of one for a jewelry item patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/70/d7/ef/82b65cd8eba3df/… Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 7:48
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1@MariaAlaniz "Problem is an attorney or a judge who is not a silversmith would not be able to understand the line-drawings that are used to create the prototype (original-model)", if you doubt the integrity of a system, that's one thing. But doubting the intellectual abilities of atty's/judge's specializing in the fields of copyrights & patents is highly presumptuous and misguided. Utility patents, if I'm not mistaken, are disputed in one federal district (possibly done similarly in design patents?), but I'd assume that absent utility aspects, other judges could handle these cases no problem. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 8:04
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1@kisspuska - in the US it is only appeals that go to a special court that hears patent appeals. But your comment is very valid otherwise. Commented Jan 31, 2022 at 16:26
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