The infringement of a trademark relates to the unauthorised use of a registered trademark by any third party on any goods or services identical with the goods or services specified in the register. If you discover that an individual or company has been infringing on your trademark, the law gives you or your company the right to seek civil and criminal remedies. In this post, we will look at 5 types of civil remedies you can utilise against the infringing party. 
Trademark Infringement Civil Remedies – Temporary Injunction
By getting a temporary injunction against a party you believe is infringing on your copyright, you can stop that person from continuing to benefit from your trademark. The temporary injunction will be in effect until the court continues to deliberate on the case. In order to receive a temporary injunction, you have to establish a prima facie case in your favour. A temporary injunction is also known as an ad-interim or interlocutory injunction.
Trademark Infringement Civil Remedies – Permanent Injunction
As the name suggests, with a permanent injunction, you can permanently stop a person from benefiting from your trademark. This is given after the court has deliberated in the case and judged it to be in your favour. If after the judgment, the other party still continues to infringe on your trademark, you can easily implicate him for violating the court order. A permanent injunction is also known as a perpetual injunction.
Trademark Infringement Civil Remedies – Damages
The courts will also grant you the right to receive compensation for the damages or losses you have suffered as a result of the actions of the infringing party. For example, if the infringing party has used the trademark of your restaurant, and you have suffered a loss because of people going to visit the other party’s restaurant by believing it to be yours, then you can ask the court to make the infringing party compensate for the loss you have suffered as a result.
Trademark Infringement Civil Remedies – Accounts Of Profits
Accounts of profits is a concept similar to damages, but with a slight difference. While damages focused on compensating you for the loss you have suffered, Accounts of Profits relief gives you the right to fully recoup all profits made by the infringing party. For example, if someone has used the name of your restaurant in some other place, you may not suffer as a result since you don’t operate a restaurant there. But the party has made profits by using your trademark. As such, if they have made a profit of 10 lacs in 6 months of operation using your trademark, then you can get the full 10 lac profit they have made by looking for an Accounts of Profits relief.
Trademark Infringement Civil Remedies – Mareva Injunction
If you think that the infringing party may try to liquidate his assets and hide it in a bid to avoid giving you the compensation you deserve, you can use the Mareva injunction. What this does is that the infringing party will be ordered by the court to not sell off his assets until such time that the case remain open or the court decides otherwise.
When you register trademark online, you will have the option to file for the above such remedies against the infringing party later on when the occasion arises. Even if you don’t have a trademark, but you believe that someone is using your business identity for their own profits, you still can take them to the court. But actually having a registered trademark will make your case much stronger, giving you a better chance of winning against the infringing party.
About the author:
Teressa Lee is an independent financial planner working from Minnesota. When she is not advising people on how to spend their money, she likes to advise people through her articles. She often works with Outreach Experts like SubmitCore and shares her thoughts with larger audiences.
