I sent a cease and desist letter to a guy in China who is using my copyrighted stuff on his website.?
However, he ignored it and did not remove the material within the 10 days time that I had given him. What options do I have now?
I am based in the USA, but unfortunately have the trademark and copyright of the product in the USA alone. The world-wide rights are held by another company. So can I actually sue the guy by appointing a legal representative in China?
What other options do I have and in what ways can he possibly retaliate? Is it easy to fight a case in another country?
Money / legal expenses are not a problem for me but I first need to know if I can actually do anything, or, if I have to contact the company holding world-wide rights and ask them to sue the guy?
Thanks a ton for any help.
Answer:
Talk to the company with the worldwide rights. Don't know if it would help but you never know. Unfortunately for you, China is well known for a culture of stealing copyrights. If money is no object you could hire an international lawyer but the chances of success are slim. Another long shot is to talk to your congressman and see if they can bring political pressure. As strange as it sounds coming from me, about the only way to effectively deal with it is with shady tactics. Have a hacker shut down his website. Then when he starts a new website have him shut that one down too. I'm not saying you should do this, I'm just saying its the only effective alternative I can think of. You will get no help from the Chinese government or Chinese law enforcement.
hire a lawyer that is well versed in international law-have a sit down with him to see what your options are, and what can be done.
hire a shady man with ties to organized violence
Trademark law is purely by country, with the exception of a few reciprocal treaties. If you don't have the trademark registered in China, there is really nothing you can do about the mark
International copyright law is different, but particularly complicated since it is entirely based on treaties. Without checking, I don't know what treaties China has signed recognizing USA copyrights. However, China as a whole is notorious for violating copyright laws, and very little can be done about it.
You can attempt to get a Chinese attorney to sue under Chinese law, but my guess is that would be fairly expensive.
When you say "worldwide" rights, do you mean just trademark? Or is the international copyright also held by someone else? If the copyright is, then they would need to sue.
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