Help...........Business question for NY residents.....?
I own a small business and there is another company similar to mine that is trying to ruin mine by doing such things as making stickers with my husbands pic and our logo on them also with their phone number and our name-yet spelled a little differently. They have done many more things like this and i have asked police, lawyers and even a friend who is a judge. My judge friend said to contact the attorney generals office to find out what my rights are...i've tried, nothing yet. So my question is, Does anyone know what business entity i could contact in ny to find out my rights? Thank you with much appreciation.
The Tall Cool One2008-09-19T06:37:58Z
Favorite Answer
I am sorry about your buisness troubles. This is a serious situation because it affects your livelihood.
The short answer is - private practice trademark and copyright attorney.
THE EXPLANATION:
There are several entities you could contact.
You need to catagorize your remdeies.
1. criminal law
2. civil law
3. adminstrative policy
4. court of public opinion
In this instance, generally you can use 2, 3 and 4.
The police handle criminal and municipal matters. A judge decides cases and unless he or she had experience with such matters as a judge or lawyer they will not know.
In my opinion, the New York State Attorney General's Office is a criminal organization (based on my own experience) that serves as an a) stepping stone for people with poltical ambition or b) support courrput public officials. (sorry, I am having problems with them).
Where are the stickers ? Are they distributed on their premises or posted around ?
If they used your husbands image and your logo without your permission, that is clearly copyright and trademark infringement.
I do not know of any public agency that would enforce your rights so I would advise you to contact your local bar association to refer you to a lawyer who handles trademark and copyright infringement. In most cases they would require you to pay up front by the hour. I assume he or she would first write a "cease and desist" letter and if that buisness did not comply then they would sue. Or if where you lives has public mediation services (which are voluntary) you could go through that route.
You could always write a certified cease and desist letter yourself and follow it up with a telephone call or personal visit.
Be aware that virtually all lawyers would require you pay them up front for this. Contigency arrangements are generally when insurance $ is involved for obvious reasons.
You did not identify or catogorize the buisness. Are there any public or private organizations that regulate your buisness in any way ? If so contact them.
If your buisness and theirs are conducted over EBAY then EBAY would suspend that buisness.
If you have or can develop any realtionship with a local journalist who thought the situation was newsworthy they could publicize it.
If it was me, I would make up a flyer, non-emotional, just the facts, explaining the situation, that your husbands photos and company's trademark are being used by a competitor. Do not identify by who.Frame your wording as your letting them know if they want your buisness to be aware of your correct address and phone #. Keep the flyer at your place of buisness in view of customers.
Mail a copy to all your current customers and run a paid advertisment in a local paper.
This would be illegal but you could enforce your rights with the threat or use of violence. If you could not do this yourself then you could either hire some recognized organization that could for a flat or hourly rate or agree to make them partners and give them an agreed % of your gross profits to handle your competitor.
The above are your various options which you now need to make a decesion based on your own abilities, values and reasources of time and money.
I hope this situation reseolves itself soon and with the minimal amount of your effort as possible.
Best wishes for the future success of your buisness.