Intellectual Property Legal Questions

By and large, recipes can only be protected as trade secrets. Protecting trade secrets requires keeping the information confidential and only sharing it with people who owe you a duty of confidence, such as through a non-disclosure agreement. If you do not have any employment agreement, I do not know of a legal vehicle either of you could use to keep the other from using the recipes going forward. Here is an example of a recipe being protected (note the confidentiality efforts): http://blogs.orrick.com/trade-secrets-watch/2013/10/31/halloween-edition-cookie-maker-gets-early-treat-when-court-protects-halloween-cookie-recipe-as-a-trade-secret-2/#more-492  ... Read More

I assume you are asking if it is ok because you are operating outside of Microsoft's standard channels. If you purchase a copy of a copyrighted work and lose your copy, your purchase does not give you license to make another copy to replace your lost copy. When you had the purchased copy, you would have been permitted to make a back up and restore or transfer the back-up, but when you lose possession that ends your licensed opportunities. You can try to explain your issue to a Microsoft vendor and see if they will give you a copy for free, but I would not expect that to be a fruitful exercise. Good luck, Todd... Read More

It would be copyright infringement to copy a copyrighted design and place it on anything. I would question whether you are copying the entire design, a significant portion of the design, or a minor element as there is some level where the copying is so insignificant so as not to be actionable (similar to using a quote from a book), but you have not suggested in the question that you are using anything less than the full copyrighted design.... Read More

It depends upon the safeguards established for the third party file format. Software files are copyright protected at the moment of creation. Some software providers are willing to permit others to go in and modify their software. They communicate some form of a license to the public to allow altering their files. Modifying a copyrighted work to provide something comparable to others/the public is copyright infringement absent a license. Others software providers provide security measures to try to prevent this reverse engineering. The law provided assistance to these software providers with the Digital Millenium Copryight Act. For instance, video games and movies have security in place to inhibit copying the files. Reverse engineering and altering the encryption/security software is copyright infringement and is criminally actionable. The copyright owner gets to decide in which format they want their work to appear. If I want to make a game only available on PS4, I have my right to do that. Perhaps I have financial incentive to do that. Regardless of your selfless desire to help poor Xbox One owners, you are not allowed to make my work available on Xbox One.... Read More

The Copyright Office does not check on the validity of names.  Further, not using your legal name does not invalidate the copyright registration. You can use your maiden name. You can use a nickname. You can use a pseudonym. The Copyright Office does warn that if you do not provide your legal name in the registration, you may have trouble proving ownership in the copyright for other legal/business dealings in the future. Here is their exact language: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl101.html Good luck, Todd... Read More

Here is a Wikipedia discussion of this question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea-expression_divide It is difficult to give a more personalized opinion without having more details and this space is not conducive to sharing the details needed to offer a more personalized opinion. Good luck, Todd... Read More

The rights are owned by the authors and, above them, by the authors of the original works. To publish Star Wars fan fiction, for example, you would need permission from the fan fiction author AND from the owner of the Star Wars intellectual property (Disney). Even not-for-profit activities can be infringing copyrights and result in statutory damages ($250-$250k/offense).... Read More

The short answer is NO. There are two reasons why this guy has no copyright to enforce.  First, individual word and short phrase are not considered to have sufficient originality to be copyrightable, and secondly, for anything to be copyrightable, it has to be original and for you to have infringed a copyright, you would have had to have copied it. Thus, if this is a 500 year old term and you adopted it from the ancient source, even if this guy had a copyright (which cannot as noted) you would not have infringed it if you did not know of his version and therefore did not copied it.... Read More

No. If you register your copyright either: 1) before infringement; or 2) after infringement, but within 3 months of first publication, you have the right to collect: 1) statutory damages; and 2) attorney fees. If you register your copyright after infringement and more than 3 months after first publication, you can still collect 'actual damages' and obtain an injunction. Actual damages would need to be calculated based on your lost revenue or the profits of the infringer. When copyright infringement claims are brought by someone who registered in advance of the infringement, all of the above options are available, and it is more likely that the copyright holder seeks statutory damages and attorney fees.... Read More

Mikhail, It depends on what you are trying to protect. If you have an invention and you use an attorney to patent the invention, the patenting expense could be anywhere from $5000-$20,000 by the time the patent issues and depending who you hire. Complex chemical/pharma patents will cost even more. If that isn't an option for you, Nolo Press used to put out (and may still) a DIY book on patenting and/or you could look for a law school with a patent clinic that might help you. If the idea is a work of art (music, sculpture, architecture, writing, etc.), you can copyright it at www.copyright.gov. That expense is $40 if you do it on your own and hundreds of dollars if you use an attorney. If your idea is neither patentable, nor copyrightable, you may still be able to protect the idea as a trade secret with contracts to maintain its confidentiality while you work to find ways to exploit it. For these types of ideas, you want to be first to market and positioned to make most of your money within a couple of years of hitting the market. After that, if you are successful, someone will come along and copy your idea while undercutting your price and likely push you out of the market. Good luck, Todd... Read More

It is hard to win a copyright infringement claim over a single quote that is part of a much larger work. See: http://www.worldipreview.com/news/midnight-in-paris-suit-thrown-out-of-court. If I were making a book of quotations, I would be careful to make each author’s and each quote’s contribution minor relative to the size of the book. Beyond that, quotes that originated before 1928 are in the public domain, with few exceptions, and thus are safer than more recent quotes. I would be careful with the art work. A picture taken in 1870 can be digitized and/or revitalized in 2004 and that act can create a new copyright. Thus, any original photos of Mark Twain are likely in the public domain now, but the image resulting from preservation efforts may be copyrighted. Look for copyright symbols on any material you use and make liberal use of the search engine at www.copyright.gov to find registrations relating to any works you use.   Good luck, Todd... Read More

You can write up and sell your own review book based on facts found from other sources. You must be careful not to copy copyright-protected material or use trademarks of others. Many exam givers protect their exams by copyrighting the questions. By protecting the questions, they can force you to pay a licensing fee to make a review book. CollegeBoard.com will similarly own or have licensed the material that appears on their web page. If you copy portions of the material for your own book, you risk being sued for copyright infringement, which carries significant penalties. Good luck, Todd... Read More

This doesn't sound like a question, it sounds like a dilemna. You could agree to what your boss wants. You could convince your boss to do what you want. Either option is acceptable under the law. If he wants to build the business around your recipes, you might even consider some form of a partnership with this owner - a percentage of the business for control of the recipes. It is all acceptable if the two of you can agree on terms, just make sure the language of the agreement reflects your terms and have the agreement reviewed by counsel to make sure your interests have been protected. Good luck, Todd... Read More

17 USC 201(d)(1) allows copyrights to be passed intestate. If you do not have a contract explaining that the rights should be conveyed to you, then you should seek out counsel proficient in wills & estates (intellectual property counsel do not get involved in this area). If an heir has the co-author's rights to the work, you are allowed to make the decision to publish unilaterally, but you must share the proceeds 50/50 with the heir.... Read More

It is illegal to copy copyrighted works without a license and/or permission from the owner. Whether you pay a fee or not does not matter if the person allowing you to download the movie did not have the right to allow you to download the movie. I can't tell you from the facts in the question whether you downloaded something illegally. If you downloaded a copy of Iron Man 3 for free, it was most likely illegal. If you downloaded someone's home movie, it is possible the owner authorized the download. Similarly, I watched an episode of Brooklyn Ninety-Nine online for free - it is not uncommon for new television series to be made available for free online. If the information available to you at the time of download make it unreasonable for you to believe you had permission from the owner, you could be liable for illegally copying the movie.... Read More

Ownership of the bear, in and of itself, does not give you any ownership rights to the intellectual property associated with the bear. Just like if you owned one of the original Beatles albums, you would not own their copyrights or trademarks. There should be special value associated with owning this bear, but it does not include the associated intellectual property.... Read More

This question is more for labor law than intellectual property as the crux of the issue is the rights of the employee/employer. Employment contracts typically govern this type of situation and are commonly used for science and engineering. You do have a right to ask the HR person for a copy of your employment contract(s). You will want to show the contract(s) to an attorney versed in Colorado employment law. More broadly, without an employment agreement, the law does have 'default' settings for these situations. Inventors are said to own patent rights absent a signed agreement to assign those rights. All other IP created on the job is typically owned by the employer. Many of the rules in this area fall under 'work-for-hire' provisions. Relative to the work you brought with you, you would need to be able to prove that you brought it with you in order to reclaim it from your employer's possession. Good luck, Todd... Read More

You need to register the copyrights at www.copyright.gov. You will then be able to sue for copyright infringement.  You will prevail if you can demonstrate to the court using the rules of evidence that: 1) you created the poems; 2) you made them publicly available; 3) the funeral homes had access to the poems that would allow them to copy the poems. If the poems were copied before you registered your trademark, your damages may be limited to reasonable licensing fees.... Read More

An employer may have a right in intellectual property you developed while employed. IP rights the employer received likely are not terminated when you resign.   Specific facts about your situation would make it easier to provide a less ambiguous answer.  For example: were you hired for the purpose of creating this IP or this type of IP, did you have an employment contract, is there an employee manual that mentions IP (or patents/copyrights/trade secrets), is the IP related to the business of your previous employer, etc.... Read More

Find a local intellectual property attorney and ask them for a 15 minute consultation to discuss a complaint someone has filed against you. I know we are encouraged not to give the answer in this forum, but sometimes it is the right answer. You do not want to publish what you have or have not done to have this complaint filed, but that information would be very important to evaluating how to proceed. It would also be important to know whether the complaint was a straight copyright infringement complaint or something related to broadcasting rights. And what are they offering to settle as they may be offering something that is entirely inappropriate. If you are being sued, do not fool around with free advice online from individuals who do not have the details of your situation. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Let's say you are walking down the street one day. Some young guy dressed in shorts and a t-shirt pulls up along the curb next to you in a new BMW, jumps out, hands you the keys and says, "Here, you look like you could use a ride," before hurrying off on foot. Do you have the right to drive the car home and file a transfer of title with the DMV? Or do you assume something is wrong and the young guy did not have the right to give you the vehicle? You don't know anything about the site license, so it is hard to define whether you have could have rights. You have not mentioned if you are a substitute teacher or volunteer at the school or some similar relationship that might require you have the software to fulfill a school related duty. Or why this teacher gave you the software. Absent any legitimate explanation for why you could believe you deserve rights to the public school's software, I would assume that something is wrong and the teacher did not have the rights to give you the software.... Read More