Indiana Intellectual Property Legal Questions

There are a lot of ifs and buts in your question. If you are an inventor or co-inventor who works for an organization full-time or contract, then your employment contract determines the ownership of the patent. Sometimes, if the inventor organization is a university, then they may let the inventor contributor have a percentage of royalty based on the intellectual property licensing agreement. Most of the time, the inventor organization who you work for becomes the owner of the patent. You only become the exclusive owner of an invention when you invent something outside of your office hours using own resources and tools without any help from employer intellectual property.  Based on the above-stated answer about ownership of a patent, please make an informed decision about patent licensing.  Disclaimer: The response is general in nature and cannot be construed as legal advice. If you would like to have legal advice, then please consult any competent attorney privately to discuss your case and establish a proper attorney-client relationship. I only work through my website at https://affordabletrademarkattorney.com/... Read More

You need a commercial litigation attorney. The complaint would be for intentional interference with economic relations, likely among other claims, although different states word the tort differently. You should try to get a temporary restraining order on the same basis so that he doesn't continue the activity. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Yes. Copyright ownership is not about owning the original prints (digital or chemical). Copyright ownership is about authorship. Copyright in photographs is owned by the photographer (photograph author), at least initially. The ownership of the copyright in the photographs can only be transferred with a signed written instrument conveying ownership of the copyright. Copyright ownership is not conveyed by selling a computer containing the original prints or even buying the prints. An Andy Warhol work may be sold to the Museum of Metropolitan Art, but that would not give MoMA the right to make prints of the Andy Warhol work. Andy Worhol (or whomever owns the copyright now) would need to sign over the copyright in the work. Or, when your wedding photographer sells you photos of your wedding, that does not give you the right to make copies of the photos unless they also assign the copyright. You may be able to sell the original picture files to People or the National Enquirer or whomever without infringing any copyrights, but if you cannot prove you came by the photographs lawfully, you may not want to do that either. Good Luck, Todd... Read More

This is pirmarily a privacy, or civil rights, issue. As a general matter, it is impermissible to use the picture of a living human being for advertising, trade or commercial purposes without his or her permission. To do so without permission is a common-law tort in every state and forbidden by statute in other states like California and New York. The question for your friend is whether this use is a "commercial" use, because if it is really a journalistic use (i.e., an accurate representation of real-life events of interest to the public), then his permission may not be required. You can have your friend contact our office if he wishes to discuss this matter further.... Read More

The additional facts you add do not change anything. If you are copying and distributing copyrighted material, regardless of medium, and doing so for a profit, you are at risk unless you can articulate a clear exception from copyright infringement applicable to each instance of copying. While copying of very short passages from a copyrighted work may be one indication that your use is "fair," brevity alone is not dispositive of this issue. For that reason, you should be prepared to seek permission from the copyright owner or to engage the services of an attorney who can advise you in each instance that your use is non-infringing.... Read More

Yes, anyone can be sued for anything. If you use copyrighted materials and sell them for personal gain, you should presume that you are infringing unless an attorney has advised you of the applicability of the "fair use" doctrine (which is always highly fact-specific) or some other exemption or defense.... Read More

You will have to give more information in order for an attorney to answer your question.  Who is the person who is not approving you to publish the book? Is it the author, or the subject or the book?  Is the book written and completed?  Who was the author?  How did you obtain the copyright to the book?   I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio.  I am not licensed to practice law in the State of Indiana.  I am asking you some general questions and no attorney-client relationships is established between you and me by the posting of this response.... Read More

The person with the most straightforward case of infringement is the one who owns the copyright in the photograph itself. Photographs are protectible under copyright law; however, the copyright must be registered with the United States Copyright Office in order to enforce the copyright. Information on determining who owns the copyright in a photograph and registering a copyright can be found at www.copyright.gov, or an intellectual property attorney can help. There is more of a problem in whether there is infringement of any copyright in the motorcycle itself. "Useful articles" cannot be protected under copyright law and so the owner of the motorcycle may or may not have an infringement case. If the motorcycle is entitled to copyright protection for its "aesthetic features" as compared to its "utilitarian features," the owner must also register that copyright with the United States Copyright Office in order to enforce it. For a case with similar (but not identical) facts, look up Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, Inc., United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, Case No. 08-16665.... Read More

It depends. Publicly displaying and performing someone else's copyrighted works is infringement unless your use is a "fair use." In this sense, "public" means the work is performed in a "place open to the public or at a place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances are gathered." A church gathering as you describe would almost certainly be a "public" place. Fair use of a copyrighted work depends on a number of factors, which include (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. There is no bright line rule for whether a use is a "fair use." You also should be aware that if you are using the likenesses of famous people, you also could be infringing their right to privacy and the use of their image to promote your church.... Read More

A person owns the copyright in a book the person writes, so that person has the right to permit others to copy the book, or not to permit them to copy it.  (However, the author may give up some of his/her rights to restrict copying or restrict re-publishing of his/her book in a publishing contract such as the one you signed with Lulu.com,  so in your case you should check your contract and listing with Lulu.com to determine whether Lulu.com has the right to give permission for this other person to reprint your book.) If you did not authorize or give permission to the other person to offer your book as a free download on his website, then you have the right to sue him for copyright infringement. You will need to hire an attorney to sue him in federal court for copyright infringement and obtain an order to force him to take down your book.  Also, you can notify his website host and tell the host that he is violating your copyright and they should take down your material from his website or take down his website entirely for copyright violations. I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio and I am not licensed to practice law in the State of Indiana.  This answer is given for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice specific to your situation.... Read More