New York Copyrights Legal Questions

A cease and desist letter can be a very serious which taken lightly can result in many negative consequences for the receiver of the letter. The letter will usually address what the sender considers wrongful conduct as well as the probable consequences of not adopting a certain conduct. It is important to know that it is usual that cease and desist letters are followed by a lawsuit. In copyright infringement cases, awards can be as high as $150,000 per work depending on the conduct of the defendant. Cease and desist letter cannot take lightly it is better to engage legal counsel before answering. ... Read More

When a person is summoned, the complaint must be answered. If a party keeps silent a default judgment can be entered and the Plaintiff can be awarded what it asked. Now, it is very important to understand that once a party has worked registered damages (or sales, foe instance) not need to be proved necessarily. ATTENTION. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Readers of this website should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter.... Read More

Under Copyright Law, the reading of a material, if such a reading is recorded can be considered as an activity that results in a derivative work. Considering this the resulting recording could be subject to the necessary authorization of Copyright owner. That said, it is also worth noting that if the part of the material is minimal or if you are not copying the material so that others access to it freely without buying it, there might be no Copyright issue. It is also important to consider that if the piece your are reading is secondary to the main subject of the class it can be considered "minimums" and not be relevant. Finally, it is also worth considering the elements of fair use. When the use of a material is considered fair use, there is no copyright infringement. For this purpose it is important to consider whether the use of the material is transformative, the amount of material used, the effect of such use in the commercialization of the material and the commercial or not comercial character of the use.  As a final comment, it is a good practice to read the terms and conditions of websites that give access to materials to know whether they have a license to publish such materials.  ATTENTION. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Readers of this website should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter.... Read More

It's impossible to answer your question without seeing the design at issue, but it sounds like you may be violating copyright and trademark laws in various ways. When you say your apparel is "superhero themed", if you're using images of superheroes that were created by another artist, you must do the homework to determine whether the specific images you use are protected by copyrights. If you create your own images inspired by the superheroes, you will likely not be infringing on copyrights. With respect to the "Supreme-inspired" line, given that you're using the same font, color and a word that sounds like Supreme (Superman) "etc", you'd be safer if you change the font or color.  ... Read More