Question

Quik Results, Inc.(QRI), a Michigan corporation, makes and sells Power Up!, a super energy boosting, carbonated beverage. Power Up! is made in Michigan, but shipped to stores all across the Midwest and East Coast. Power Up! is made by QRI, and delivered on QRI. trucks, by QRI employees. QRI has in-house accounting and marketing staff.

                  QRI’s in-house marketing department decides to use in print ads for Power Up! direct quotes from a study that shows the ingredients in Power Up! are safe and effective. The study was done by Deep Topics, Inc. a private, for profit research/think tank organization. QRI does not obtain the permission of Deep Topics to use the study in its advertisements. Deep Topics files a suit against QRI, alleging infringement of the plaintiffs' intellectual property rights. Which type of intellectual property is involved in this situation? What is QRI's likely defense? How is a court most likely to rule? Explain.

Answer 1

The copyright in the case is intellectual property rights. The Copyright confers exclusive protection to the owner of the original copyright. Since Deep Topics, Inc. did this research, it is Deep Topics Inc's exclusive right to use the findings of the analysis. The organization in fact violated copyright laws because the QRI used the study findings without permission of Deep Topics, Inc. The probable protection of QRI is to give compensation, since Power Up is the own product of the business. This is because, without their permission, Deep Topics Inc has used the figures or the findings of research, and Deep Topics can be proven perfectly. The safest choice is therefore to provide the research company with compensation. The decision of the court will be based on DeepTopics Inc.'s evidence, which indicates that the results of the analysis are a factual proof that DeepTopics created the findings first and QRI was subsequently applied.