Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Re: Settlement form for copyright infringement

Congratulations on getting the infringer's agreement to pay you 10K.

You'll need a settlement agreement that, at least, acknowledges your infringement claim summarizing it, memorializes the infringers agreement to pay you 10K, gives the infringer a release for his past conduct from the beginning of time until the date of the agreement, incorporates a mechanism for payment and includes a covenant that there will be no further ongoing acts of infringement. The agreement needs to also include other standard legal provisions providing for jurisdiction in the event of a breach, etc. Often, in these situations, there is a "handshake" problem; that is, the infringer won't pay until it gets a release and you're not going to want to give him a release until he pays, which why an attorney often holds the settlement funds until everybody signs the settlement agreement and then releases those funds to the plaintiff.

I don't have a standard form that would incorporate all of the facts at issue here, e.g., that one party is in Illinois and another in Ohio.

THE ABOVE ADVICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING ANY MATERIAL PRESENTED HEREIN, I RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONSULT AN ATTORNEY. THIS INFORMATION IS BEING PROVIDED BY AN ATTORNEY IN ACTIVE PRACTICE IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS AND CURRENTLY HOLDS AN ACTIVE LAW LICENSE IN THAT STATE ONLY.

Re: Settlement form for copyright infringement

Since they are the ones who should be more concerned about the language of the release, why not ask them to draft it?