Copyright Counseling, Registration & Enforcement

Whether you are protecting a consumer product design or its packaging, a fabric pattern, a company publication, or a complex database, Sterne Kessler can help you maximize the power of copyright to safeguard and enforce your valuable intellectual property (IP) assets. Our copyright clients span virtually all industries, including consumer products, software, traditional and digital media, entertainment, fashion and luxury goods, life sciences, high technology, and electronics, amongst others. Some of our clients include BTL Industries, Robotic Vision Technologies, Paul Reed Smith Guitars, and Cirque du Soleil.

We counsel on registering, licensing, and enforcing original works of authorship, including literary works (books, manuals, brochures, pamphlets), visual works (artwork, photographs, product designs and their packaging), musical works (compositions and sound recordings), and motion pictures. We also assist with investigating the registration status and ownership of others’ protected works of authorship, and counsel on managing risks arising from their use and compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In addition, we help record copyright registrations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as Customs offices in foreign jurisdictions, to prevent the importation of products protected by copyright as well as to prevent counterfeit goods from entering or exiting the United States.

Comprehensive IP Strategy

Our team advises clients on copyright protection as part of a comprehensive IP strategy that includes trademark, trade dress, and utility and design patent rights. We partner with our clients to understand the unique needs of their business and industry, and develop efficient and effective approaches to best protect their innovations and creative works. We advise on the preparation and filing of applications to register works with the U.S. Copyright Office, and counsel clients on copyright clearance and ownership issues. We draft and negotiate copyright licenses, assignments, and agreements, and provide opinions on copyrightability, fair use, and infringement. We are also ready with a team of experienced trial litigators to enforce our clients’ copyrights against infringers through demand letters, takedown requests, and district court litigation.