The warning shot
IPKat - IP news and fun for everyone: The current issue of the UK Intellectual Property Office’s Insight newsletter carries a feature entitled “The Warning Shot”. This turns out to be a piece by Eversheds technology partner Simon Crossley on how to write warning letter to a would-be infringer. Simon writes, in relevant part:
“… Most of the time, an infringer will cave in once you have sent them a letter. For between £1,000 and £2,000, you are providing them with an easy way out of the mess into which they have got themselves. You might even ask them to pay your legal fees. [the IPKat notes that this is frequently demanded of even incidental infringers, for example those who find themselves in the middle of a supply chain -- who are asked to give undertakings not to infringe again, when they are scarcely in a position to verify whether goods are genuine or not, and who are only too happy not to infringe but don't see why they should have to pay the other side's costs when they willingly comply with all their other requests and the first they heard about the infringement was when they got the other side's solicitor's letter].
So what is the formula for putting together a letter that warns any trespassers off your rights? To emerge as the winner in any pre-trial correspondence, use these basic rules: watch your market; collect the evidence; write a careful letter; and then extract a promise from them to stop [these are necessary conditions for emerging as a winner, but not sufficient ones. You also need an addressee who is sensible, cooperative and risk-averse -- and in the case of the UK a postal system that is capable of getting your letter to the addressee].
Watch the market
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