(a) Any owner of a mark registered under this article may proceed by suit to enjoin the manufacture, use, display, or sale of any counterfeits or imitations thereof and any court of competent jurisdiction may grant injunctions to restrain such manufacture, use, display, or sale as may be by the court deemed just and reasonable, and may require the defendants to pay to such owner all profits derived from, and/or all damages suffered by reason of, such wrongful manufacture, use, display, or sale, and to pay the costs of the action. In assessing profits, the owner shall be required to prove defendant‘s sales only; defendant must prove all elements of cost or deduction claimed. The court may also order that any such counterfeits or imitations in the possession or under the control of any defendant in such case, be delivered to an officer of the court, or to the complainant, to be destroyed.
Terms Used In Alabama Code 8-12-18
Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(b) In assessing damages the court may enter judgment, according to the circumstances of the case, for any sum above the amount found as actual damages, up to a trebling of such amount. If the court shall find that the amount of the recovery based on profits is either inadequate or excessive, the court may enter judgment for such sum as the court shall find to be just, according to the circumstances of the case. Such sum in either of the above circumstances shall constitute compensation and not a penalty.(c) The court may award reasonable attorney fees as follows:
(1) To a prevailing owner in such cases when the court finds the defendant willfully intended infringement or dilution.(2) To a prevailing defendant in such cases as the Alabama Litigation Accountability Act provides.(d) The enumeration of any right or remedy in this article shall not affect an owner’s right to prosecute under any penal law of this state.
