Intellectual Property Legal Questions

I think a suit could be possible. I think there are a couple of cases out there that have used identity theft laws to prosecute folks running revenge porn sites (among the phrases I never dreamed would enter my lexicon). The harm here seems comparable. Google "identity theft" and "revenge porn" and "lawsuit" you should get some useful articles. I think the cases were in California and/or Florida. They were based on state law and I don't know what comparable laws exist in Louisiana, but ultimately your options depend on whether the person that did this has any money (can't get blood from a stone) and the cost to litigate. Your girlfriend may have a libel/defamation case as well.... Read More

In a copyright infringement case, the loser pays the winner's legal fees.  You could litigate.   I'd also go search the term "copyright trolls", particularly looking at articles posted by Joe Mullin. The stories at least offer up one scenario under which you might be targeted without being guilty. Other than that, it is hard to give you advice without knowing what is in the letter and discussing it with you. Ultimately, you will want to see if you can get a consultation with an intellectual property attorney in Georgia who might be willing to represent you if you are sued.... Read More

If it is your website, you are expected to control the web site. YouTube doesn't claim a lack of control even though they make it very easy to post copyright infringing material. You need to be able to exercise control over the content of your site and, if you don't know how to exercise that control, you should take down the site until you figure it out.... Read More

Works of government employees in carrying out their work are not protected by copyright law. This would include statutes and court opinions. There is copyright protection in how a private business compiles the statutes or court opinions. West Law puts Keynotes on their printing of statutes and court opinions to provide a form of executive summary. That content is theirs. I mention this only as a word of caution, if you are going to copy the state statues from a given location, check for copyright notices to make sure you are not copying a compilation of a private company. Good luck, Todd... Read More

If the name brand product has no copyright, trademark, or patent protection, and you do not have any separate contractual relations with the name brand company, you should be fine. Otherwise, those IP assets need to be evaluated relative to the product you are copying to answer your question properly. Good luck, Todd... Read More

If you own a book and sell pages (not copies, but the actual pages) from the book you own, you have not copied anything, so there should be no copyright infringement. There have been legal actions in the past for activies modifying the art work of artists. Colorizing movies, altering the resolution, restoring art, etc. There may be a cause of action related to modifying art work (in this case, the art work is the book), but I have no knowledge of it applied to your hypothetical facts. Good luck, Todd... Read More

In a copyright application, the work you submit is the protected work. If you submit multiple songs, you are protected for the compilation.  There is tangible benefit to submit for each individual song. Similarly, you could submit lyrics/composition under TX form, as SR form will only protect that medium. Keep in mind, if I transcribe and sell the lyrics I hear in your sound recording, that would be infringement of the sound recording copyright.  The concern is, the more you pack into a filing, the easier it is for someone to copy a small percentage of the work and have the court find noninfringement or fair use because such a small percentage of the work was copied. You can go to copyright.gov and see how well known artists protect their work. There is nothing wrong with seeing what they do and copying their process.  Granted they have deep pockets, but copyright protection is sufficiently inexpensive that the fee should not be a barrier to sound protection (pun intended). Good luck, Todd... Read More

In the US, the inventor is the owner of the patent rights to the invention. Ownership may only be conveyed by a signed writing. If you have not executed any documents to assign to your employer the invention, you may be able to stop your employer and the employers' customers from using the product without your authorization (a license). The employer may have shop rights in the invention (Look up Shop Rights for patents on Wikipedia). You would still have bargaining power in that you could permit others to use the technology whereas your employer cannot transfer the shop right.... Read More

Attorneys are supposed to hold files in escrow for their client. If requested, the client's files should be handed over without charge. I would ask your state's Bar Association to intevene on your behalf. If you feel files have been destroyed, I would similarly report that to your state's Bar Association for redress. Good luck, Todd... Read More

If you have "example" trademarked and you own the URL "example.com", there is minimal value in registering example.com as a trademark. The exception would be if you used .com as part of your trademark (and not simply as a web address to buy your goods/service). I've got a brief jingle rolling around in my head where someone sings "hotwire.com". They are making the .com part of their consumer recognition. They should register "hotwire.com". I never see Apple advertise themselves as Apple.com, so they would not get any material benefit from that registration. Also, keep in mind that someone else could register example as a trademark for goods/services unrelated to yours. Think of Delta Faucets and Delta Airlines, both of whom own Delta for their goods/services. A made up word, like Kodak, is going to receive broader protection, but it would probably be a mistake to think no one could ever use the same or a similar name for a completely different purpose.... Read More

The owner could have Customs stop importation from Mexico based on trademark and/or copyright laws. A copyright lawsuit is also possible and the US has a strong enough economic relationship with Mexico to pull you into a US court (or get a default judgment against you after which your assets in Mexico could be seized).... Read More

Trademark infringement is all about consumer confusion. Does a consumer see the T10A service mark and think tirefAkers is related to Carmetal, maybe a subsidiary? If the T10A mark confuses the consumer into believing their may be a relationship with the companies, you have trademark infringement. If there are enough other distinguishing elements that consumers are simply not confused, no infringement. There are other ways to obtain trademark infringement, such as through dilution, but consumer confusion is the most likely theory in your scenario. Hope that helps, Todd... Read More

In the tech world, California, more than any other US state (to the best of my knowledge) fosters mobility of tech workers. State laws in California tend to favor employee movement and freedom to operate over non-competes and NDAs, as compared to other states. You want to make sure any agreement that requires Nevada laws also requires Nevada as the forum for any dispute. I have not studied the laws of Nevada or California, these thoughts are based strictly on reputation of laws in California within a legal community. Good luck, Todd... Read More

US trademark law is all about consumer confusion. If the other brewery is still functioning and some of your consumers believe there is a relationship between you and the other brewery, that confusion could restrict your ability to register your trademark. Even if you registered the trademark, the courts may still view you as the junior user (second user) in some geographies within the US and prevent you from enforcing your trademark against this other brewery (who would be the senior user). It is also possible the other brewery could revive their abandoned registration. Without having all the facts at hand (and analysis of those facts would take more time than should be expected for free information) it is hard to suggest how to proceed. ... Read More

If your school identifies this activity as cheating, your scholastic record could be at risk. Schools have their own fiefdoms with broad power to discipline students according to their own codes of conduct. The other concern would be copyright infringement. Some standardized achievement exam-makers have kept others from copying their exam questions for prep courses through copyright law. Copying and slightly modifying the problem could be copyright infringement. Those are the issues that occur to me.   Good luck, Todd... Read More

A graduate of UT Law, I know that the General Counsel's office of the university has it own licensing department and at least one full-time attorney at their General Counsel's office. This answer is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation. This answer is not intended to be, and should not be, relied upon by the recipient in making decisions of a legal nature with respect to the issues discussed herein. The recipient is encouraged to consult independent counsel before making any decisions or taking any action concerning the matters in this answer. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author (John R. LaBar)/Henry, McCord, Bean, Miller, Gabriel & LaBar, P.L.L.C. and the recipient.... Read More

Based on the heading, I read your question to be "[with these facts], can you use company logos without their permission?" The facts you've laid out relate to fair use for trademark infringement. There are other ways to infringe a trademark, such as through dillution. Also, without knowing how you are using the logo, it is difficult to know whether your use could fall under a fair use exception for copyright. It is possible to reprint a company logo without permission and without being guilty of trademark or copyright infringement. If Time magazine was doing a story on Coca-Cola, it could arguably use their logo on the front cover of the magazine without permission and without infringing their IP rights. You can look up copyright fair use on Wikipedia and get a reasonable sense of the rules. Good luck, Todd... Read More