Intellectual Property Legal Questions

If you own the copyright in the record and picture, then you might have a copyright infringement claim. However, there are a number of factors that have to be satisfied before you can enforce your rights. First, the copyright in your works must be registered with the United States Copyright Office. If you have not registered the copyright, you cannot bring a lawsuit in a court of law. You can register the copyright after the infringement started but your rights will be more limited than if you had registered before the infringement started. Second, given that the work appears to have been created in the 1960s, you need to consult someone to determine if your works have gone into the public domain. This is because the copyright laws have changed over the years and if you did not register and then "renew" your registration during certain time periods under the old laws, you may not have any rights under copyright in these works any longer. Third, there is a statute of limitations of 3 years to bring a lawsuit under the Copyright Act, meaning that if the infringement started more than 3 years ago, you may no longer be able to sue. You will need to consult someone about these issues to see if you have a claim.... Read More

Almost certainly you will have a problem doing this. Under US trademark law, there only has to be a "likelihood of confusion" among consumers that your product is sponsored by or affiliated with their product due to the similarity of the trademarks. Vodka and whiskey are highly related products which lends to the confusion, meaning that it would be reasonable for a consumer to assume that a whiskey product labeled "Windsor" would come from the same source as a vodka product labeled "Windsor."... Read More

Dear Mr Freeman, You will need help with someone familiar with the precise standards and regulations which can make your website universally understood. The job will be look through your code and to make sure your codes and styles validate across the board. Many of these pertain to the"strict" standards set by the W3C Organization and pass a variety of validations for CSS and XHTML.It needs to be seen whether your site needs to be just checked for CSS, or XHTML, and as well as for accessibility. Sometimes you might need testing with many validators.While you can refer to the World Wide Web Consortium for further information, you need make sure that your interface meets the standards and also hosts a variety of web page validators. Having a validated site is not only legally required but also good online practice in making your website interface universally accessible. Our compliance team in London will need to look at your site in detail and then offer a quote for an opinion on your current status /problems etc. in validation.Please contact us at jm@joshandmak.com for further information and/or a quote.... Read More

Dear Mr Brandon, depending on the nature of the work you have done and its actual originality as well as the gravity of the school action taken against you, you could consider sending the school administration a straight forward legal notice apprising them of your rights and your wish to have your name acknowledged on the video.If you think you have a proper IP right to the video, why don't you consider publishing it to your youtube account or any of your social networks before it is released alongwith credit to your name?While we do not have too much information from your end to assist you currently, a few more details could help us pinpoint exactly how you can proceed with a cost-effective legal strategy in this case.... Read More

Dear Mr Snyder, the type of legal protection(s) you might be looking for may not arise per se from the way the law in IL,USA may protect you but from the way you choose to word/draft and/or supplement the prior clauses in in your current Nondisclosure Agreement (s) (NDA(s)).It is possible that in the past, you might have shared many aspects of your sharing source code, demos, or ideas with people who you were trying to 'sell' an idea to or have a partnership with in the past , so you clearly are at danger of having your ideas/games etc. cloned or varied intelligently. Just a question, did you, have any presumptions regarding the  game being ultimately cloned/copied in your NDA(s) and write down about the type of remedies/damages available there? Asserting your right not have any aspect, idea, colour schemes , code etc. in your video game copied is much broader that simply stating a 'copyright' on the video game.How specific have you been in your current NDA(s) so far?This type of protection can be time-consuming and mentally exhausting, but it will safe you from unneccesary headaches later. Next, how technically sound are your safeguards against copying.Have you considered encrypting/scrambling your code?Also you may interested in obtaining a world wide patent on your consoles and peripherals on the game, if any.Be specific in your patent application, if you have not opted for a patent so far.What about the game rules,processes and methodologies which make your game unique? Contrary to the popular notion that copyrights are a one stop method for protecting your work, your contents, functionalities and mechanics are often not covered under the copyright umbrella.Finally a good legal team can always alert you about a reputation check online and offline and whether your work has been cloned.It is wise to launch a media offensive if you think your work has been stolen, but you will need to shape your strategy better through timely legal advice. Our IP legal team at Josh and Mak LLP can advise you about the remedies/safeguards etc. available further as well as whether your current NDA(s) and registrations provide you enough protection. I hope my answer helps!  ... Read More

Professional negligence by a doctor by not meeting the standard of care is called "medical malpractice". It is almost impossible for a non-doctor to determine the appropriate standard of care, and these matters are very fact specific. You should assemble all your medical records and consult a medical malpractice attorney where you reside.... Read More

The situation you describe falls under the "fair use" doctrine, which allows someone to use all or part of a copyrighted work without having to get the permission of the copyright owner. This doctrine is very narrow and is always dependent on exactly what you are doing and exactly what works you are using, including how much of those works you are using. "Fair use" can be permitted in the situations of commentary, search engines, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship, but even in these situations use of another person's work as a "fair use" is not without restrictions. One of the primary factors that works AGAINST "fair use" is whether your use is commercial in nature. Unfortunately there is a very high likelihood that your use would not be a "fair use" and you therefore would have to get permission to use the clips. Since "fair use" is so dependent on the precise facts, you should definitely consult with someone knowledgeable in this field before you make your online course available to see whether you might be inviting an allegation of copyright infringement.... Read More

Virtually every successful film in "Hollywood" receives numerous demands or lawsuits alleging infringement of copyright. I would estimate less than one in one hundred succeeds, perhaps less than one in one thousand. If you registered your script with the Writers Guild and if you registered your screenplay with the Copyright Office you may have a chance, but then, finding a lawyer to handle this on a contingent/percentage fee will be very, very difficult and if paid by the hour will cost a "fortune".... Read More