Illinois Entertainment Legal Questions

Depends. If the defense filed a counterclaim for intentional infliction of emotional distress based upon a theory that the underlying case was filed without any basis whatsoever but, instead, to intentionally cause the defendant emotional distress, the defendant will have a difficult road to hoe. Under Illinois law, there is a qualified litigation privilege which immunizes both parties from claims of civil torts so long as the conduct in question occurs as part of the litigation process and is not clearly plead or filed for the sole purpose of harassment or intimidation, without any good faith basis in the law. If the underlying pleading being attacked has some modicum 'good faith' or some basis in fact, a counterclaim attacking the complaint as queried should be subject to a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment once some evidence is produced to support the claim. The law presumes good faith by the parties and the burden is on the opposing party to assert and prove and the complaint has no basis in law or fact.... Read More

There are 2 issues here - trademark and copyright. If you use a trademark to mark your products or services and sell them, you may have "common law"  trademark rights. You don't have to register your trademarks to have enforceable rights. However, "common law" trademark rights are much more difficult to enforce than registered trademarks and what you have to do to enforce them depends on the nature of the trademark itself. You have to show that your trademarks are either "inherently distinctive" or have "acquired distinctiveness" in order to have "common law" trademark rights, and then you must show the geographical area in which people recognize you as the source of your goods/services offered under those trademarks. This is VERY expensive and is why federal registration of trademarks is highly recommended, if possible. If you can do all of this, you can sue the person for trademark infringement. Copyright, however, cannot be enforced unless you register the copyright in the infringed work. Copyright covers "works of authorship," such as songs and videos. You can register your copyright at www.copyright.gov. This is the United States Copyright Office website and it has excellent materials telling you how you can file an application for registration.... Read More