Intellectual Property Legal Questions

Assuming that the goods are counterfeit and have trademarks that are registered with the Customs Service, which is the case for major companies like Reebok, Addidas, etc., then there is a high likelihood that the goods will be seized by the Customs Service when they enter the country and will either be destroyed or donated to a charity based on the wishes of the trademark owner. The Customs Service will not fine you or send or have you arrested. However, should Customs fail to catch the counterfeit goods, if you try to resell the goods, you would be commiting a crime and you could also be subject to legal action by the trademark owner.... Read More

Hi Steven, Has Zales refused? I would start there instead. I was having this discussion with another attorney earlier today. In some situations, you have to assume the risk to move forward and deal with the consequences if/when they arise. Production of one ring is not worth the attention of Warner Bros. I would be shocked if they responded to you unless you already knew someone there. The other way to go is to have the ring made and then deal with WB/DC if/when they find out and contact you. You'll be in poor bargaining position, but at least you will have someone at the table. If Zales won't do it, you can look for others. And one time infringement (which may be fair use defensible) is not unusual. Many people make their own costumes for ComicCon events and I never hear about any of them being sued. WB/DC does not act on every conceivable actionable fandom activity. Good luck, Todd  ... Read More

Plagurizing is not a crime, so there is no statute of limitations. If you wanted to go after them for fraud or misappropriation, the statute of limitations is different in every state, so you'd need to determine in which state(s) you could bring an action and review the statute of limitations on these torts in those states. If you wanted to go after them for copyright infringement, you could go after them for any activity that took place within 3 years of bringing suit (which would include sales over the past 3 years). The statute of limitations clock normally begins when you knew or should have known of the activity giving rise to your complaint. If they wrote the book in 2008, but did not publish until 2013, such that you could only have known about the activity for the past year, writing the book in 2008 does not save them. If you think you have a case, you should find a local lawyer who will meet with you for 15-20 minutes to help determine if you have a case based on the specific facts and whether the amount you could collect makes moving forward with a complaint worthwhile. Good luck, Todd... Read More

There are two issues at play. One issue is copyrights. In making any copyrightable work, the owner is the author unless/until the author assigns ownership to another entity with a signed writing unless the work qualifies as a work-for-hire (see Wikipedia). In most instances, the author of a video is the person manipulating the camera (e.g., the cameraman recording a wedding). In more organized productions, the author could be the director if the director is instructing the person manipulating the camera where and when and how to record. Being in the shot does not impact authorship or ownership. If you release footage you do not own, you could be in violation of copyrights. When the footage was being shot, each of you knew you were in the shot for the purpose of releasing a documentary. Even if releases were not executed, I don't think anyone can argue that they did not know they were being filmed or for what purpose. The second issue is contractual. Without looking at any divorce agreements or any business agreements related to filming the documentary, it is hard to identify what contractual issues might be at play. Again, though, if he has an ownership stake in the release, you could have an issue by releasing the movie despite the restriction he communicated. Good luck, Todd... Read More

You would probably not be criminally responsible, but you could be legally responsible to your email contacts. If you were particularly careless in allowing your email account to be hacked or did not take remediating steps once you became aware that your email was hacked, an argument could be made that your email contacts trust you, creating a duty of care, you breached a duty of care with the aforementioned careless actions or lack of action after you became aware of the hack, and your email contacts lost money as a result of your breach.  It would be a hard case to make, but it would not be impossible.  ... Read More

Testimony. You would testify to the authenticity of the document. You can print it and put a date on it (if one does not naturally appear) and you would then testify to the authenticity that the document is a true and accurate copy printed by you on the date shown on the document. The print out is more credible if you do this frequently as part of a regular business practice or you printed it because something in particular gave you concern in this case. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Whether a mark is registrable or not is a fact specific inquiry. An attorney would need to know the specific mark as well as the class in which registration is sought, and then do a search. Even after that the attorney could only offer an opinion as to whether registration is likely. And no attorney will do the work for free.... Read More

Try the folks at http://slsct.org/. They will try to help you get legal assistance for your issue at a price you can afford. Every state has legal assistance programs that provide low cost legal resources for folks that cannot afford the fees most attorneys charge. The counsel tend to be younger and seeking to develop experience. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Trademark infringement is about consumer confusion. If consumers who purchase the shirt believe it is a reference to the university (few people ever suggest they graduate from a city) and believe the t-shirt is produced with approval/license from the college, then you may be profiting from consumer confusion. Trademark law is about protection of the consumer as much as it is about protection of the trademark owner. The college may have a complaint to file against you if consumers who want to buy their goods are being deceived by you to purchase your goods. There might be a way to print that type of shirt without confusion. For instance, in reference to New York, the back of the t-shirt included class names such as "Street Vender Economics", "Taxi Driver Multilingualism" and "Skyscraper Architecture", a purchaser is unlikely to be confused that the shirt is referencing the city and not a school. Whereas, if you use SUNY colors and sell it ten feet off of the SUNY campus, without any effort at a city reference, you are probably creating risk for a law suit. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Publication of photographs falls within free speech in the US. To inhibit free speech, an opposing party needs to have a counterveiling right that supercedes your right to free speech. Photo releases are designed to resolve rights of privacy issues and rights of publicity issues, which are rights possessed by people. Structures do not have the same rights as people, as you might imagine. Unless you have a contract with the resort (which you may, depending on how private it is - similar to the contract on the back of movie tickets agreeing not to bootleg the movie), agreeing not to publish photos of the resort, I'm not sure what right they would have to prevent publication of photos of the resort. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Trademark law is about confusion of the source of a good. If someone were to make a series of NASCAR products, the reasonable consumer belief would be that the manufacturer had an agreement with NASCAR and the products were somehow sponsored/approved by NASCAR. In this particular instance, based on the limited facts provided, the client would have knowledge that the product was not sponsored/approved by NASCAR and, thus, it is not reasonable to conclude the client would suffer confusion. It is possible to have third party confusion. A viewer of the NASCAR urn believes that NASCAR sponsored/approved the urn and then develops a negative opinion of NASCAR (because of the quality of the product or feeling the product is tacky, for example). However the damages NASCAR could claim would probably not rise to a level that would make litigation desirable. To the extent there is risk, I suspect it would relate to third party confusion. Good luck, Todd... Read More

There is no action in the US for plagiarism. The nearest useful civil claims are copyright infringement, fraud, and misappropriation, depending on the facts involved in the plagiarism. It is possible to seek profits obtained by the wrongful act and/or actual damages you suffered and can prove (not easy in these types of situations). Residency/citizenship outside the US should not impact your ability to seek damages, although there may be some countries with whom the US does not have complete legal reciprocity. You may wish to seek representation from counsel in the same state as one of your plagiarists or the HQ of the plagiarizing journal to minimize jurisdictional hassle. Good luck, Todd... Read More

No one opens a sealed bag years later in a courtroom to present more than a hundred gigabytes of evidence to the court. You would have your attorney open the envelope in his office and then testify to the fact that he opened the envelope. There is no such thing as 'undeniable' proof of existence. You present evidence, the other side attempts to deny/discredit the evidence, and then a jury (or judge in a bench trial) decides which side is more credible. They might claim the envelope could be steamed open. They might try calling the notary to the stand. The opposition will always seek some manner of denial. You could also create a bound book (not 3 ring binder material where pages can be removed/replaced, but a bound book made by Amazon or Shutterfly or whomever) filled with the files and have the book notoraized. There is always an element to electronic files that seems 'easier' to fabricate than paper. In that case, you would have the inside cover notarized. No case law for you - sorry. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Register the copyright for your work product at www.copyright.gov. You can complete the form on your own and it only costs about $40. If you register the work within 3 months of creation and/or before they steal it, you can seek statutory damages and attorney fees. That's a hammer. The alternative is getting paid before you present the work. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Copyright requires a modicum of creativity. Further, copyright cannot be used to copyright functionality. On this basis, it is rare that a math equation fits within the bounds of copyrightable subject matter in the US. I have a t-shirt from Think Geek (or someone comparable) that has a math equation on the front. There are four lines that are used to simplify/solve the equation and the last line reads "i <3 u" (I love you, if you don't see the heart). The math equations on the t-shirt could be copyright protected. The copyright would not be protecting the math function, and would be protecting a textual message utilizing a modicum of creativity. Hope that helps, Todd... Read More

If you want to push the envelope, you could register the copyright for your article, then sue the newspaper for copyright infringement and misappropriation. News stories have a fair use defense in many instances, but I don't see any other intellectual property rights that have been violated. You would want to have the copyright registered within 3 months of publication to be able to seek statutory damages and attorney fees. You should discuss the matter with a local copyright/IP attorney who can compare the two articles with you and help you prepare to bring suit if that is the appropriate direction to go. Without seeing the articles, I can't comment on whether you have any rights that have been violated, but this is where I would start thinking about the possibility. Good luck, Todd... Read More

If your use of the team names confuses consumers, leading them to believe you are associated with those teams in some form (e.g., licensing or endorsed by), you could be liable for trademark infringement. The NFL, MLB, and NBA have contact information available online for licensing. Good luck, Todd... Read More