California intellectual property law combines state statutes with federal protections to cover five categories of creative and commercial assets: trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and the right of publicity. Owners whose rights are violated can pursue injunctions, actual damages, and in many cases enhanced or treble damages, and prosecutors can bring criminal charges for counterfeiting, piracy, and trade secret theft that carry years in prison and six-figure fines.
What California IP Law Covers
Five bodies of law do most of the work. Trademarks protect brand identifiers. Patents protect inventions. Copyrights protect creative works. Trade secrets protect confidential business information. The right of publicity protects a person’s name, voice, and likeness from unauthorized commercial use. Patents and copyrights are federal; trademarks and trade secrets have both federal and California tracks; the right of publicity is primarily a California matter.
Which law applies depends on what you created and how someone else is using it. The remedies, deadlines, and even the courthouse change with the category, so identifying the right one is the first move in any dispute.
Trademarks in California
A trademark is any name, logo, slogan, or other identifier that distinguishes one company’s goods or services from another’s. You can register at two levels: federally with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for nationwide protection, or with the California Secretary of State under the Model State Trademark Law (Business and Professions Code Chapter 2, Division 6) for protection within the state.1California Secretary of State. Trademarks and Service Marks Even without registration, California recognizes common law trademark rights for marks that have been used in commerce and developed distinctiveness over time.
Infringement happens when someone uses a mark that is identical or confusingly similar to yours in a way that could mislead consumers. Business and Professions Code 14245 lets the owner of a registered mark sue when another party uses a reproduction or imitation in connection with selling goods or services where confusion is likely.2California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 14245 – Infringement
Courts can order an infringer to stop immediately. On damages, Business and Professions Code 14250 allows the trademark owner to recover up to three times the infringer’s profits and up to three times the actual damages suffered.3California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 14250 – Violations That treble multiplier gives California trademark enforcement real teeth.
Copyrights
Copyright protects original creative works like books, music, films, software, and visual art. Protection attaches automatically when the work is fixed in a tangible form. Registering with the U.S. Copyright Office is not required, but it unlocks remedies you otherwise cannot get.
If you registered the work before the infringement began, you can elect statutory damages instead of proving actual losses. Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work infringed, and the ceiling climbs to $150,000 per work when the infringement was willful.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 504 – Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits Courts also issue injunctions to halt ongoing infringement.
Fair Use
Not every unauthorized use is infringement. Federal law allows a fair use defense, and courts weigh four factors together:5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 107 – Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
- The purpose and character of the use, with transformative uses like criticism, commentary, parody, and news reporting favoring fair use, and commercial uses cutting against it.
- The nature of the original work, with factual, published works more likely to qualify than highly creative or unpublished material.
- The amount used, with smaller portions favoring fair use, though a large portion can still qualify if the purpose is genuinely transformative.
- The effect on the market, with uses that compete with or substitute for the original rarely qualifying.
No single factor is decisive. The analysis is fact-intensive, so similar-looking situations can produce opposite results.
Fine Art Protection
California gives visual artists an additional shield beyond federal copyright. Civil Code 987 prohibits anyone other than the artist who owns the work from intentionally defacing, altering, or destroying a work of “fine art,” defined as an original painting, sculpture, drawing, or glass work of recognized quality.6California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 987 – Preservation of Works of Art Professionals who frame, conserve, or restore fine art are also liable if their negligence damages the piece. Artists can seek injunctive relief, actual damages, and punitive damages.
Patents
Patents are entirely federal. California state courts don’t rule on patent validity, but they regularly handle related disputes like licensing disagreements and breach-of-contract claims involving patented technology.
When infringement is proven, a court must award at least a reasonable royalty for the unauthorized use. If the infringement was willful, the court can increase the award up to three times the base amount.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 USC 284 – Damages
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets cover any confidential business information that derives value from being kept secret, including formulas, algorithms, customer lists, and proprietary processes. No registration is required. The tradeoff is that the owner must take reasonable steps to maintain secrecy; once the information becomes public, the protection disappears.
California’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act defines a trade secret as information that derives independent economic value from not being generally known and is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it confidential.8California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3426.1 Misappropriation includes acquiring a trade secret through improper means, or disclosing one when you knew it was obtained improperly or under circumstances that created a duty of confidentiality.
A plaintiff who proves misappropriation can recover actual losses plus the infringer’s unjust enrichment. If neither figure is provable, the court can order a reasonable royalty. When the misappropriation was willful and malicious, exemplary damages up to twice the compensatory award are available.9California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3426.3
Right of Publicity
Civil Code 3344 makes it illegal to knowingly use another person’s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness for commercial purposes without consent.10California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3344 – Use of Anothers Name, Voice, Signature, Photograph, or Likeness
Damages start at a floor of $750, but the injured person can recover actual damages and any profits from the unauthorized use if those amounts are higher. Punitive damages are also available, and the prevailing party recovers attorney’s fees and costs. Courts can issue injunctions requiring removal or recall of the infringing material within two business days of the order. With the growth of AI-generated content, this statute increasingly applies to synthetic media that mimics real people.
Who Owns IP Created at Work
Much of the IP produced in California is created by employees and contractors, and ownership turns on specific rules that catch many businesses off guard.
Work Made for Hire
Under federal copyright law, when an employee creates a work within the scope of their job, the employer owns the copyright automatically. For independent contractors, the rules tighten: a commissioned work only qualifies as “work made for hire” if it falls into one of nine specific categories (such as contributions to a collective work, translations, or parts of a motion picture) and both parties sign a written agreement saying so.11U.S. Copyright Office. Works Made for Hire If those requirements aren’t met, the creator keeps the copyright regardless of who paid for the work.
Employee Inventions
Many California employment contracts require workers to assign all inventions to the employer. Labor Code 2870 limits how far these clauses can reach. An employer cannot claim an invention the employee developed entirely on their own time, without using any company equipment or trade secret information, unless the invention relates to the employer’s current or anticipated business or resulted from work the employee did for the employer.12California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 2870 Contract language that tries to reach further is unenforceable.
The Non-Compete Ban
California flatly prohibits non-compete agreements. Business and Professions Code 16600 declares void any contract restraining someone from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business.13California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 16600 Courts read the statute broadly, invalidating non-competes no matter how narrowly drafted.
Legislation effective in 2024 strengthened the ban. Under Business and Professions Code 16600.5, a non-compete signed in another state is still unenforceable if the employee works in California, and employers who try to enforce a void non-compete commit a civil violation. Affected employees can sue for injunctive relief, actual damages, and attorney’s fees.14California Legislative Information. SB 699 – Noncompete Agreements Because employers can’t use non-competes to stop departing workers from joining competitors, trade secret protections do heavier work in California than almost anywhere else.
Civil Remedies When Your IP Is Infringed
California courts have a broad toolkit for IP violations.
Compensatory damages cover actual financial losses, including lost profits and the infringer’s unjust enrichment. For state trademark infringement, the court can award up to three times the infringer’s profits and three times the trademark owner’s damages.3California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 14250 – Violations For trade secret misappropriation, exemplary damages of up to twice the compensatory award are available when the conduct was willful and malicious.9California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3426.3
Injunctive relief is often more valuable than money. Courts can order an infringer to stop using the protected material immediately, and violating an injunction can lead to contempt charges. In high-stakes trade secret disputes, courts also issue temporary restraining orders to keep confidential information from spreading while the case is pending.
Attorney’s fees are recoverable in several contexts. The Lanham Act lets federal courts award fees to the prevailing party in “exceptional” trademark cases.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1117 – Recovery for Violation of Rights The Copyright Act gives courts discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees to any prevailing party.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 505 – Remedies for Infringement: Costs and Attorneys Fees California’s Code of Civil Procedure 1021.5 also allows fee recovery when a lawsuit enforces an important right affecting the public interest and provides a significant benefit to the general public.17California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1021.5
Criminal Penalties
IP violations become criminal when they involve large-scale counterfeiting, piracy, or trade secret theft committed with fraudulent intent. California prosecutors bring these cases regularly.
Counterfeiting
Penal Code 350 covers manufacturing, selling, or knowingly possessing for sale counterfeit trademarked goods. Penalties depend on both the number of items and their total value.18California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 350 – Counterfeit Marks
Fewer than 1,000 items with a combined value under $950 (the grand theft threshold) is a misdemeanor. Individuals face up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. Business entities face fines up to $200,000.19California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 487 – Grand Theft
At 1,000 or more items, or a combined value of $950 or more, the offense is a wobbler that prosecutors can charge as a misdemeanor or a felony. Felony sentences run 16 months, two years, or three years, with fines up to $500,000 for individuals or $1,000,000 for businesses. A second conviction on even the lower-tier offense also becomes a wobbler, with individual fines climbing to $100,000. If counterfeit goods directly cause death or serious injury, penalties rise to two, three, or four years in prison and fines up to $100,000.
Recording Piracy
Penal Code 653h targets unauthorized copying and distribution of audio and video recordings. At 1,000 or more pirated copies, the offense is a felony punishable by two, three, or five years in prison and fines up to $500,000.20California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 653h – Unauthorized Recordings Smaller-scale violations involving at least 100 copies carry misdemeanor penalties of up to one year in jail and fines up to $20,000.
Trade Secret Theft
Penal Code 499c criminalizes stealing, fraudulently taking, or copying a trade secret with the intent to deprive the owner of control or to use the information for personal or third-party benefit. Conviction is punishable by up to one year in county jail, or 16 months to three years in state prison, plus fines up to $5,000.21California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 499c – Theft of Trade Secret The statute also covers bribing an employee to hand over proprietary information, applying the same penalties to the person offering the bribe and the employee who accepts it.
Deadlines to File a Claim
Each type of IP claim has its own clock, and missing it can end an otherwise strong case.
Trade secret claims must be filed within three years from the date you discovered or reasonably should have discovered the misappropriation. A continuing misappropriation counts as a single claim, so the clock runs from initial discovery rather than from each subsequent use.22California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 3426.6
California applies a four-year statute of limitations for state trademark claims. Courts may also apply the doctrine of laches, which can bar even timely claims if the plaintiff unreasonably sat on their rights and the delay prejudiced the defendant.
Copyright claims must be brought within three years after the claim accrues.23Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 507 – Limitations on Actions Under the separate-accrual rule, each new infringing act opens its own three-year window, but damages are limited to the three years before the lawsuit was filed. The Supreme Court confirmed that backward-looking cap, holding that a plaintiff who delays can still sue but can only collect for recent infringement.24Justia. Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
For patents, no damages can be recovered for infringement committed more than six years before the lawsuit was filed.25Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 35 USC 286 – Time Limitation on Damages That functions as both a practical filing deadline and a damages cutoff.
If you suspect your rights are being violated, document the infringement, identify which category of IP applies, and get advice before the limitations period runs. Early action preserves the full range of remedies; delay narrows them, sometimes to nothing.