| name | infringement-triage |
| description | Infringement triage across trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret — a flag list with the factors cutting each way, not a finding. Use when assessing whether someone is infringing your IP or whether you might be infringing theirs, when a knockoff or copycat surfaces, or when deciding whether a matter is worth pursuing and how.
|
| argument-hint | [describe the facts and which right — or just the facts and I'll ask which right] |
/infringement-triage
This is a triage, not a finding of infringement or non-infringement.
Infringement analysis is fact-intensive and legally complex. Acting on a
triage — sending a cease-and-desist, refusing to stop, filing suit, or
deciding not to — without attorney review is how companies end up on the
wrong side of fee awards, Rule 11 sanctions, declaratory-judgment actions,
and (for patents) treble damages.
Instructions
- Read
~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/practice-profile.md. If it
contains [PLACEHOLDER], stop and direct to /ip-legal:cold-start-interview.
- Follow the workflow below.
- Ask which right is at issue — trademark / copyright / patent / trade secret
/ mixed. If mixed, run each separately; do not blend.
- Run common intake (party posture — senior or accused, jurisdiction, timing,
exhibits).
- Walk the mode-specific factors:
- Trademark — circuit's confusion test + dilution (if famous) +
false advertising (if a comparative claim).
- Copyright — ownership + registration + access + substantial
similarity + fair use + platform takedown safe harbor (if applicable).
- Patent — claim-chart first pass (route to
fto-triage output
structure); literal + DOE; indirect + divided; invalidity defenses to
consider.
- Trade secret — secrecy + reasonable measures + misappropriation;
preemption + reverse-engineering flags.
- Produce a flag list with direction — what cuts toward the senior party,
what cuts toward the accused, what's mixed. Never conclude.
- Write the triage memo to the matter folder or practice outputs folder. Apply
the work-product header per role.
- End with recommended next steps, the non-lawyer gate if the role is
non-lawyer, and — if the practice posture supports assertion — an offer to
draft the C&D via
/ip-legal:cease-desist or the takedown via
/ip-legal:takedown. Do not draft automatically.
This skill never concludes. If uncertain, flag — the attorney decides.
Examples
/ip-legal:infringement-triage "competitor launched a tool called APEXSEED in class 9 — we have APEXLEAF registered in class 9; likely confusion?"
/ip-legal:infringement-triage "former engineer took notes on our model architecture to a competitor — possible trade secret?"
/ip-legal:infringement-triage
(And the skill will ask which right and for the facts.)
THIS IS A TRIAGE, NOT A FINDING
The loudest guardrail in the plugin. Say this at the top of every output. Do
not drop it. Do not soften it.
This is a triage, not a finding of infringement or non-infringement.
Infringement analysis is fact-intensive and legally complex. The triage
identifies the factors and flags the ones that matter most; it does not
conclude. A conclusion that something does or does not infringe is a legal
opinion that requires an attorney's judgment on the facts, the claim or
right scope, the relevant jurisdiction's law, and the likely defenses.
Acting on a triage — sending a cease-and-desist, refusing to stop, filing
suit, or deciding not to — without attorney review is how companies end up
on the wrong side of fee awards, Rule 11 sanctions, declaratory-judgment
actions, and (for patents) treble damages.
Under-calling a conflict is a one-way door — a C&D not sent and a mark goes
generic in the market; a claim not chased and the statute of limitations runs;
a copied copyrighted work kept on the site. Over-calling is a two-way door —
the attorney narrows. Stay on the two-way door side.
Matter context
Matter context. Check ## Matter workspaces in the practice-level practice-profile.md. If Enabled is ✗ (the default for in-house users), skip the rest of this paragraph — skills use practice-level context and the matter machinery is invisible. If enabled and there is no active matter, ask: "Which matter is this for? Run /ip-legal:matter-workspace switch <slug> or say practice-level." Load the active matter's matter.md for matter-specific context and overrides. Write outputs to the matter folder at ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/matters/<matter-slug>/. Never read another matter's files unless Cross-matter context is on.
Infringement triages often lead into cease-and-desist drafting or takedown
routing. Open a matter if one isn't active and the practice is private — the
triage, the C&D, and any downstream response belong in one workspace.
Load the practice profile first
Read ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/practice-profile.md. Pull:
- Role from
## Who's using this.
- Enforcement posture from
## Enforcement posture — the triage output
should end with a routing suggestion consistent with the stated posture
(aggressive / measured / conservative) and the named approver for the
relevant letter type.
- Registered in / enforce where from
## IP practice profile — determines
which circuit / jurisdiction test to apply by default.
- Integrations from
## Available integrations — research connector,
Solve Intelligence each affects whether the triage can cite to case law,
prior rulings, or prior art.
- Decision posture from
## Decision posture on subjective legal calls —
this skill never concludes on a subjective threshold.
If the config has [PLACEHOLDER], surface this bounce:
I notice you haven't configured your practice profile yet — that's how I tailor posture, jurisdictions, and approval chain to your practice.
Two choices:
- Run
/ip-legal:cold-start-interview (2 minutes) to configure your profile, then I'll run this tailored to YOUR practice.
- Say "provisional" and I'll run this against generic defaults — US jurisdiction, middle risk appetite, lawyer role, no playbook — and tag every output
[PROVISIONAL — configure your profile for tailored output] so you can see what I do before committing.
Provisional mode
If the user says "provisional," run the infringement triage normally using these generic defaults: middle risk appetite, lawyer role, US jurisdiction, no playbook (do the full analysis rather than matching against a position list). Tag the reviewer note and every finding block with [PROVISIONAL]. At the end of the output, append:
"That was a generic run against default assumptions. Run /ip-legal:cold-start-interview to get output calibrated to YOUR practice — your playbook, your jurisdiction, your risk appetite. 2 minutes."
Mode selection
Ask at the top, before anything else:
Which right are we triaging?
- Trademark — confusion, dilution, or false advertising
- Copyright — substantial similarity, fair use, platform takedown safe harbor
- Patent — claim-chart first pass, literal read + doctrine of equivalents
- Trade secret — secrecy, reasonable measures, misappropriation
- Mixed / not sure — describe the facts and I'll pick
If the user picks "not sure," help them sort. The same facts can implicate
multiple rights (e.g., a competitor's product uses our logo — trademark; and
the product is a near-copy of ours — possible patent, copyright on packaging,
possible trade dress; and a former employee launched it — trade secret).
If more than one right is in play, run the triage for each, separately.
Don't mash them together. Each right has different factors, different
jurisdictional rules, and different remedies.
Intake (common to all modes)
Before I walk factors:
- Posture. Are you the potentially senior party (they're taking
yours) or the potentially accused party (we're the ones being looked at)?
The factors are symmetric but the output differs — a "mine's being
copied" triage routes toward an assertion letter; a "we might be
exposed" triage routes toward a risk memo.
- Jurisdiction. Which country / circuit / court? US federal default if
not specified. Flag if foreign law may apply.
- Timing. Is a statute of limitations or laches clock running?
- What exhibits / evidence / source documents do you have? A screenshot,
a URL, a packaging photo, a code excerpt, an ex-employee contract.
Wait for the answer before walking factors.
Trademark mode
Confusion
Use the applicable circuit's multi-factor test. Cite the test (du Pont /
Polaroid / Sleekcraft / other — see the clearance skill for the case
citations and pick logic). Walk each factor and flag what cuts each way.
- Similarity of marks — sight / sound / meaning / commercial impression.
- Similarity of goods or services — expected-source test, not identity.
- Channels of trade.
- Consumer sophistication.
- Strength of the senior mark — fanciful / arbitrary / suggestive /
descriptive with secondary meaning / generic.
- Intent — evidence of copying, knock-off trade dress, near-miss mark.
- Actual confusion — any evidence (surveys, misdirected inquiries, social).
- Likelihood of expansion / bridge-the-gap — whether the zones overlap
commercially.
Dilution
Apply the federal TDRA (15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)) and any applicable state statute.
- Fame threshold. The senior mark must be famous to the general consuming
public — a niche-famous mark is not enough. Starbucks Corp. v. Wolfe's
Borough Coffee, Inc., 588 F.3d 97 (2d Cir. 2009) is representative.
- Blurring vs. tarnishment. Blurring = distinctiveness harm; tarnishment
= reputation harm.
- Defenses — comparative advertising, news reporting, fair use,
non-commercial use.
If the senior mark is not plainly famous nationally, flag dilution as a
stretch.
False advertising / comparative claims
If the triage is prompted by a competitor's comparative ad or a claim about
product attributes:
- Apply Lanham Act § 43(a) / 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) for the materiality,
falsity-or-misleading, deception, commercial-speech, and injury elements.
- Flag whether the statement is literally false, implicitly false, or
puffery. Puffery is not actionable.
- Substantiation evidence the claimant has or needs.
Output
Factors table; what cuts each way; a "not a finding" conclusion line. End with
a routing suggestion against the enforcement posture in the practice profile.
Copyright mode
Ownership
Is the claimant the owner (or exclusive licensee with standing)? Work-for-hire
issues; joint authorship; assignments; and termination rights all flag.
Registration
17 U.S.C. § 411 requires registration (or preregistration) as a precondition
to filing an infringement action in US federal court. Fourth Estate Public
Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019) — registration
means actually issued, not just applied for. Flag registration status; if
not registered, flag the practical bar on filing.
Access + substantial similarity
Two paths to proving copying:
- Access + probative similarity — defendant had access and the works share
features probative of copying.
- Striking similarity — even absent proof of access, the similarity is so
striking that independent creation is unlikely.
For substantial similarity, apply the circuit's test (Second Circuit's
ordinary-observer; Ninth Circuit's extrinsic / intrinsic under Krofft and
Swirsky; Fourth / Seventh / Eleventh circuits' variations). Flag which
test applies.
Fair use
17 U.S.C. § 107 four factors, analyzed as a whole:
- Purpose and character of the use (transformativeness; commercial vs.
non-commercial).
- Nature of the copyrighted work (factual / functional vs. creative).
- Amount and substantiality of the portion used.
- Effect on the market for the original.
Recent touchstones: Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., 593 U.S. 1 (2021);
Andy Warhol Found. for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, 598 U.S. 508
(2023). Flag the transformativeness analysis carefully — Warhol narrowed
the scope of transformative use and is still being applied by lower courts.
platform takedown safe harbor
17 U.S.C. § 512. If the accused is a service provider hosting user content,
flag whether § 512(c) applies: designated agent, notice-and-takedown
procedure, no actual or red-flag knowledge, no financial benefit
attributable to infringement the provider could control, expeditious
takedown on valid notice. Repeat-infringer policy required. Safe harbor does
not cover direct infringement by the service provider itself.
Output
Factors flagged; fair-use balance with "the triage does not conclude";
ownership / registration / safe-harbor threshold notes. Routing per posture.
Patent mode
Route to /ip-legal:fto-triage for the detailed framework. This mode is the
mirror image of the FTO skill — same claim charts, same doctrine-of-equivalents
flag, same all-elements rule — applied to an accused product instead of one's
own.
Design patent (D-number) — branch before the workflow
Check the asserted patent's registration number FIRST. If it has a D,
RE, or PP prefix (e.g., D712,345), it's not a utility patent and the
workflow below does NOT apply. Branch per prefix:
D prefix — design patent (35 U.S.C. §171). Different test, different
claim structure, different damages. Do NOT build a claim chart, do NOT run
doctrine of equivalents, do NOT do element-by-element mapping. Design
patents have a single claim defined by the drawings; charting a figure as
if it were a utility claim element list is wrong doctrine.RE prefix — reissue patent. Treat as the utility patent it reissued,
but flag reissue-specific defenses (intervening rights under §252,
recapture rule, original-patent requirement).PP prefix — plant patent. Separate regime (35 U.S.C. §161). Asexually
reproduced plant varieties. Route to plant-patent counsel; this skill does
not analyze plant patents.
Design patent infringement test — ordinary observer. Egyptian Goddess,
Inc. v. Swisa, Inc., 543 F.3d 665 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (en banc). The question
is whether an ordinary observer, familiar with the prior art designs,
would be deceived into thinking the accused design is the same as the
patented design. Compare overall ornamental appearance, not individual
elements. The accused product must appropriate the novelty that
distinguishes the patented design from the prior art (the "point of novelty"
survives as a guiwitness interviewst inside the ordinary-observer test, not as a separate
test).
Functional-vs-ornamental filter. Design patents protect ornamental
features only; functional features are not protected. If the accused
similarity is in features dictated by function, flag that the overlap may
fall outside the patented scope.
§289 total-profit damages flag. Design patent damages under 35 U.S.C.
§289 are the infringer's total profits on the "article of manufacture,"
which can be the whole product or a component. Samsung Electronics Co. v.
Apple Inc., 580 U.S. 53 (2016). This is a separate analysis from utility
patent reasonable-royalty / lost-profits and is specialist work — do not
compute.
Trade dress cross-flag. The same ornamental-shape facts are usually also
a trade dress question under Lanham Act §43(a) (15 U.S.C. §1125(a)).
Product configuration trade dress requires secondary meaning (Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc. v. Samara Bros., Inc., 529 U.S. 205 (2000)) and must be
non-functional (TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc.,
532 U.S. 23 (2001)). Flag trade dress as a parallel track; the tests are
different but the evidence overlaps.
Design patent triage — output
Because you cannot see the patent drawings or the accused product directly,
the design patent triage is mostly a request for the materials and a frame
for the analysis:
- Ask for the drawings. "I can't run the ordinary-observer test without
seeing the patent figures and the accused product. Paste or attach: (a)
the patent drawings (all figures, including any broken-line disclaimers),
(b) photos of the accused product from comparable angles, (c) any prior
art designs you're aware of."
- Prior-art landscape. Ordinary observer is a comparison test — the
observer is "familiar with the prior art," so the scope of the patented
design narrows as the prior-art field crowds. Flag what prior art is
known and what's missing.
- Functional-vs-ornamental analysis. Walk the features and flag which
look functional (and therefore unprotected) vs. ornamental.
- Broken lines. Design patents use solid lines for claimed features and
broken lines for unclaimed environmental context. Flag whether the
alleged copying is in claimed (solid-line) or unclaimed (broken-line)
territory.
- §289 damages flag as above.
- Trade dress cross-flag as above.
Route to a design patent specialist for anything beyond first-pass triage.
Design patent litigation is a subspecialty (Perkins Coie, Sterne Kessler,
Desmarais, Kirkland's design team, Gibson Dunn's design group are
representative; use your practice profile's IP litigation OC as the starting
point). This skill flags issues; it does not assess infringement.
Utility patent workflow
The rest of this mode assumes the asserted patent is a utility patent
(no D/RE/PP prefix). If the D-number branch above applies, stop here.
Patent systems differ by jurisdiction. The US claim chart (all-elements rule, doctrine of equivalents, prosecution history estoppel, §284/§289 damages) does not transfer to other systems:
- Germany: Utility models (Gebrauchsmuster), the Schneidmesser/Kunststoffrohrteil questions for DOE, bifurcated validity/infringement proceedings.
- China: Utility models (shiyong xinxing), CNIPA examination, different claim construction.
- Japan: Utility models, JPO examination, a narrower DOE.
- Europe (unified patent court): UPC procedure as of 2023.
When non-US jurisdictions are in scope: "This analysis uses the US claim-charting framework. A product manufactured in China and sold in the EU needs CNIPA and EP analysis, not a US claim chart. I can flag the issues a US analysis surfaces, but the infringement and validity calls require [jurisdiction]-specific review."
Workflow
- Accused product / process / method — described in technical detail.
- Identified patent(s) at issue.
- Claim chart for each independent claim: element-by-element mapping to the
accused product.
- Literal infringement first. DOE as a flag.
- Indirect (induced, contributory) and divided infringement as flags.
- Invalidity defenses to consider — anticipation (§ 102), obviousness
(§ 103), § 112 written-description / enablement / definiteness, § 101
subject-matter eligibility (Alice / Mayo). Known IPR or PGR outcomes,
known prior art, known prosecution history. Flag each; do not opine.
- Unenforceability defenses — inequitable conduct flag, prosecution
laches flag, assignor / licensee estoppel flag. Each is attorney-only.
- Damages posture — lost profits vs. reasonable royalty (Georgia-Pacific
factors), marking, pre-suit notice, willfulness (reading this triage may
factor into willfulness — see the FTO skill's willfulness note).
Output
Claim charts. Element flags. Defense flags. Routing to patent counsel. See
the fto-triage skill for the full output structure — the infringement-triage
patent mode uses the same format with "accused product" substituted for
"own product."
Handoff to the full claim chart
For a detailed element-by-element claim chart suitable for infringement or
invalidity contentions, run /litigation-legal:claim-chart. This triage's
claim chart is a first pass to identify the strongest and weakest mappings;
the litigation claim chart builds the full chart with pin cites, claim
construction flags, dependent claims, and the verification workflow that
contentions require.
Trade secret mode
Was it a secret?
Apply the Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1836 et seq.) for federal
purposes and the applicable state UTSA (or, in New York / Massachusetts /
other non-UTSA jurisdictions, the state's common-law test). Flag:
- Not generally known — to the public or to others in the industry who can
obtain economic value from disclosure.
- Economic value from secrecy — independent economic value actual or
potential, derived from not being generally known.
- Combinations and compilations — a combination of public elements can
be a trade secret (Altavion v. Konica Minolta, and the Restatement view).
Reasonable measures
- NDAs with employees, contractors, counterparties. Scope, signed, enforced?
- Access controls — technical (role-based), physical (doors, badges),
organizational (need-to-know).
- Marking — confidentiality legends on documents, code, data.
- Exit interviews / return of materials on termination.
- Trade-secret policy / training.
Flag what's in place and what's missing. Reasonable is fact-specific; the
triage does not decide whether the measures were reasonable — it lists them.
Misappropriation
Acquisition by improper means, or disclosure / use in breach of duty.
Improper means includes theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or
inducement of breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage (electronic
or otherwise). 18 U.S.C. § 1839(6).
- Former employee fact pattern: new employer, overlapping work,
departure timing, documents taken (and returned?), access logs, recruiting
channels, assignment and invention-assignment agreements.
- Inadvertent disclosure: Was disclosure made by a person with a duty? Did
the recipient know or have reason to know of the breach?
- Reverse engineering — a defense if the means were lawful. Flag whether
reverse engineering is plausible on the facts.
Preemption
Where state tort claims (unfair competition, conversion, breach of confidence)
might be preempted by the UTSA, flag preemption. Some jurisdictions preserve
contract claims; others preempt most tort claims addressing the same facts.
Output
Three flag groups — secrecy, measures, misappropriation — each with what cuts
each way. Routing per posture.
Output format (all modes)
Prepend the work-product header from ~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/practice-profile.md ## Outputs.
[WORK-PRODUCT HEADER]
# Infringement Triage — [Trademark | Copyright | Patent | Trade Secret] (NOT A FINDING)
**This is a triage, not a finding of infringement or non-infringement.** The
triage identifies factors and flags what matters most; it does not conclude.
A conclusion requires an attorney's judgment on the facts, the right scope,
jurisdiction, and defenses. Acting on a triage without attorney review is
how companies end up on the wrong side of fee awards, Rule 11 sanctions,
declaratory-judgment actions, and enhanced damages.
**Triage result:** [GREEN / YELLOW / RED — one sentence why]
## Posture and scope
- **Party posture:** [senior / accused]
- **Right at issue:** [trademark / copyright / patent / trade secret]
- **Jurisdiction:** [US federal — specific circuit / state / foreign]
- **Legal framework applied:** [cite the governing test and statute]
- **Statute of limitations / laches posture:** [clock status]
- **Exhibits / evidence reviewed:** [list]
## Factor analysis
[Mode-specific factor table — confusion factors / fair-use factors / claim chart
/ trade-secret elements. Each factor has a flag and a direction. This is
a flag list, not a verdict.]
## Defenses and thresholds
[Mode-specific: dilution fame threshold / registration prerequisite /
§ 512 safe harbor / invalidity / inequitable conduct / preemption /
reverse-engineering / consent / license / laches / statute of limitations.
Flag each.]
## What cuts which way — summary
| Factor | Flag | Direction (senior / accused / mixed) |
|---|---|---|
| [factor 1] | [note] | [direction] |
**Conclusion:** *This skill does not conclude.* Attorney judgment required
before acting. The factors cutting [direction] are [brief summary]; the
factors cutting [direction] are [brief summary].
## Recommended next steps
- [formal opinion from counsel / route to IP OC named in the practice profile]
- [evidence preservation and hold — if a litigation clock is running]
- [fact development needed before a decision — e.g., access logs, prosecution
history, market studies, survey evidence]
[routing per
, if the posture is to assert]
Every case, statute, registration number, claim quote, and exhibit cited here
must be verified against the authoritative source before relying on it.
Jurisdictional tests vary by circuit and change over time — confirm the
current controlling authority.
Non-lawyer gate
Before issuing the output, read ## Who's using this. If the Role is Non-lawyer:
This output is a research triage, not legal advice. Sending a C&D, deciding
not to stop, filing suit, or relying on "it's fair use" based on this triage
alone has legal consequences — including Rule 11 sanctions for a baseless
assertion, declaratory-judgment exposure for a threatening letter, treble
damages on the patent side, and fee awards in unfair-competition cases.
An attorney needs to evaluate before you move.
Here's a brief to bring to an attorney:
[Generate a 1-page summary: the right at issue, the posture, the facts and
evidence, the factors surfaced, the defenses flagged, and the three
questions to ask the attorney.]
If you need to find a licensed attorney, solicitor, barrister, or other authorised legal professional in your jurisdiction: your professional regulator's referral service is
the starting point (state bar in the US, SRA/Bar Standards Board in England & Wales, Law Society in Scotland/NI/Ireland/Canada/Australia, or your jurisdiction's equivalent). For patents in the US, the attorney must be registered before the
IP registry; for other jurisdictions, use the relevant patent office register. For trademarks, INTA maintains a directory of practitioners worldwide.
Deliver the triage alongside the brief.
Output location
If matter workspaces are enabled and a matter is active, write to
~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/matters/<matter-slug>/outputs/infringe-<mode>-<subject-slug>-YYYY-MM-DD.md.
Otherwise write to
~/.codebuddy/plugins/config/legal-workflows/ip-legal/outputs/infringe-<mode>-<subject-slug>-YYYY-MM-DD.md
and surface the path.
Append a one-line entry to the matter's history.md if a matter is active.
Handoff to enforcement skills
If the triage output points toward an assertion and the practice profile's
posture supports it, offer:
Want me to draft a cease-and-desist on this? Run /ip-legal:cease-desist.
I'll use the flag list from this triage as the factual basis and apply the
approval chain from your practice profile — the letter won't go anywhere
without the approver signing off.
Or, if the mode is copyright and the accused is hosted content:
Want me to prepare a platform takedown takedown? Run /ip-legal:takedown.
Do not draft the letter automatically from the triage. The decision to assert
is the approver's, not the triage's.
Close with the next-steps decision tree
End with the next-steps decision tree per practice-profile.md ## Outputs. Customize the options to what this skill just produced — the five default branches (draft the X, escalate, get more facts, watch and wait, something else) are a starting point, not a lock-in. The tree is the output; the lawyer picks.
What this skill does not do
- Conclude infringement or non-infringement. Ever. The loudest guardrail.
- Substitute for survey evidence, damages experts, or claim construction.
- Evaluate jurisdiction-specific defenses outside the triage's jurisdiction
scope. If the facts cross borders, flag that foreign-law analysis is
required.
- Decide fair use as a matter of law. Fair use is fact-intensive and
reserved for the attorney and, ultimately, the court.
- Draft the C&D, takedown, or complaint. Those are separate skills
(
/ip-legal:cease-desist, /ip-legal:takedown) gated by the approval
chain in the practice profile.
- Quote outputs to counterparties. Privileged if the header applies.
Tone
Factor-by-factor, flag-by-flag. No hedging prose. The guardrail at the top
does the scope work; the analysis does the analysis. A lawyer should leave
the output knowing exactly which factors are flagged, which defenses apply,
and what they need to do next to either assert or stand down.
