Rhode Island Intellectual Property Legal Questions

You would probably not be criminally responsible, but you could be legally responsible to your email contacts. If you were particularly careless in allowing your email account to be hacked or did not take remediating steps once you became aware that your email was hacked, an argument could be made that your email contacts trust you, creating a duty of care, you breached a duty of care with the aforementioned careless actions or lack of action after you became aware of the hack, and your email contacts lost money as a result of your breach.  It would be a hard case to make, but it would not be impossible.  ... Read Answer

Trademarks are based on the use of words, images, etc. to identify the source of the product. Infringement occures when someone else is using a similar enough word, image, etc. to sell their products to lead consumers to believe their products are originating with you. Likelihood of confusion (infringement) analysis requires an analysis of the similarity of the goods being sold and the distinctiveness of the mark, amongh other factors. You have not identified the product you are selling or the product they are selling. The trademark DELTA, for instance, can be used by multiple companies to sell various products without creating confusion in the marketplace. MICROSOFT cannot be used the same way. You have not provided enough information to elicit a yes or no answer, but I would suggest you have disclosed enough that it would warrant a visit to a local IP attorney that offers free consultations to get their thoughts with the facts you are hesitant to disclose here. ... Read Answer