Michigan Intellectual Property Legal Questions

Impersonation of celebrities for commercial purposes falls under the celebrity's right of publicity. In general, any person has the right to prevent his/her image/likeness/voice from being  used by someone else for commercial purposes. However, publicity rights are different in every state and what may be permissible in one state may not be permissible in another. For example, the rights vary from state to state depending on whether the celebrity is living or deceased. You need to consult someone who knows the laws governing the right of publicity in the state(s) that you will be performing. ... Read More

This is not atypical to have in a company that works with content creators. The reason they include this is that they don't want to get involved in a dispute over rights to a work, if 2 or more people submit similar ideas/works. You don't have to submit your ideas to them if that doesn't seem reasonable to you. Be sure to read the other terms. For instance, do they say they have the right to use the material even if they don't accept you as a client? That is a much more onerous condition than the one you asked about. ... Read More

The facts you state may implicate copyright and trademark law. Your business plan is entitled to copyright protection regarding the creative portions that you authored. Facts cannot be protected under copyright, but a selection of facts and conclusions based on the facts could be protectible. However, before you enforce a copyright, you must register it with the United States Copyright Office. If you did not register the copyright before it was copied, you have already lost the right to ask for attorney's fees and "statutory" damages (damages that don't require proof of actual harm to you). If you have trademark rights in a term that he is using in his domain name, and he is offering goods/services that compete with yours, this could be trademark infringement and cyberpiracy. However there are a lot of facts to determine whether you have an actual case under either of these theories. ... Read More

Copyright infringement does require "copying," which means that you would have to establish that Disney had access to your song and made a substantial copy. A second hurdle is that you must register the copyright in your song before you can enforce your rights. Several important rights are only available if you registered the copyright in your song BEFORE the infringement began, including the right to ask for attorney's fees if you should win an infringement lawsuit. ... Read More

The things you worked on at your former job belong to your old employer.  If you were an employee when you performed certain drawings, the drawings probably belong to your old employer and the employer would have all rights in them.  There are many issues involved in what you are asking, including copyright rights and trade secret matters.  You should not use any of the informationuntil you have discussed the precise matters with an attorney.... Read More

Getty Images has been sending letters out like this for some time. Search online and you will find a lot of information on how people are handling the letters. You mention Getty Images Canada sent you the letter. Copyright laws are enforced only within the country that they are in force so the question is whether Getty Images Canada is alleging a violation of Canadian law; what that Canadian law says; and whether your website use of the images at issue violated those laws. Someone needs to look at the facts and the law. However, keep in mind that using images protected by copyright without authorization can expose you to liability so it is important to make sure that you clear everything you use. If you buy a business, you should get a warranty from the seller that nothing infringes anyone's rights and if it does, they will indemnify you.... Read More

Acronyms of a generic word or phrase are difficult to protect by trademark.  One must show that the acronym serves as a source identifier and is not used in its descriptive or generic sense.  This means that one must be able to prove that the generic term has meaning sperate from the underlying term.  You can see the difficulty in doing that - since it's a generic term, almost by definition it cannot be separated apart from its ordinary meaning.  Great effort must be made to develop meaning as a source identifier in an acronym of a generic term, apart from the term's ordinary meaning. This information should not be considered legal advice for your specific circumstances and are offered only as general information on the topic of your question.  This should not be relied upon as legal advice and Sills Cummis and Gross does not represent you until you have signed a retainer letter from us. Philip Braginsky, Sills Cummis and Gross http://www.sillscummis.com/practice/practice_group.asp?id=28... Read More