Wisconsin Intellectual Property

The team of intellectual property lawyers at Loftus & Eisenberg assist both individuals and businesses to safeguard their creations. This comprises both artistic and literary works, creative outputs like symbols, designs and  inventions, branding through company and product names, trade secrets, and logos and images. We aid our clients in obtaining and leveraging trademarks and copyrights and make it our mission to make sure our clients’ intellectual property is protected to the highest degree. Our clients range from individuals and start-ups to large companies across numerous industries.

Our team of business lawyers help our clients by providing counsel on all facets of intellectual property law including copyright, trademark, and trade secrets. As needed on a case by case basis, we partner with highly specialized patent law attorneys to ensure the most robust legal representation possible.

For most entrepreneurs, their most valuable asset is their intellectual property. This would include any nonphysical property that is a result of mental effort, including both artistic labors and inventions. Both state and federal law safeguards this intellectual property through various forms like copyright, trademark, patent and trade secrets. Our seasoned intellectual property litigation lawyers assist clients in both the Milwaukee area as well as throughout Southern Wisconsin. Our team helps clients ensure these regulations are followed and our clients are protected as well as support them in related matters like intellectual property transfers, e-commerce and internet disputes, publicity rights, unjust competition, and licensing.

It is always recommended to confer with a specialized intellectual property lawyer who has experience not only on providing counsel to clients as well as taking these cases to trial before filing an intellectual property suit. In many cases, these intellectual property rights are able to be safeguarded by remitting a cease-and-desist letter. But, if it turns out that one must file suit, there are multiple statutes that would apply based on the nature of the intellectual property in consideration.

For example, trademarks are protected under federal law as well as the Wisconsin Trademark Registration and Protection Act. Wis. Stat. § 132.001. Copyright and patent infringement in Wisconsin are governed by federal law.

Under the Wisconsin Trade Secrets Act (2011 Wisconsin Code Chapter 134.), for instance, a misappropriation of trade secrets occurs when someone knows or should know that another person’s trade secret was improperly acquired. It can also occur with the disclosure or use of a trade secret by someone who used improper means to get it or who knew or should have known that improper means were used to get it. The information may have been acquired under circumstances that required it to be maintained as a secret, or the party that disclosed it may have owed a duty to the trade secret owner not to disclose it.

A trade secret owner facing an actual or threatened instance of misappropriation can file suit to have the misappropriation enjoined. However, injunctions often may be terminated if a trade secret has ceased to exist. An injunction may be continued for a reasonable period afterward, however, in order to eliminate any commercial advantage derived from the misappropriation, to serve as a deterrent measure, or to account for situations in which the trade secret stopped existing because of improper means used by the enjoined party or others.

Additionally, the trade secret owner can potentially recover damages, including actual losses and unjust enrichment. If these damages cannot be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, on the other hand, the appropriate damages award may be calculated as a reasonable royalty based on the unauthorized disclosure or use.

Our team of intellectual property lawyers are here to provide clients the protection they need when it comes to their intellectual property portfolios. Learn more about the different types of intellectual property law or simply contact us to talk about your case.