Intellectual Property Legal Questions

Hi Ken, If you are buying the curriculum and you are buying the book, I'm not clear on what other IP rights might be possessed by the author that you are purchasing. If I were to teach a class at our local law school, I could assign a text book and the students would need to buy it. The author's revenue would come entirely from the purchase of the text book. If you are starting a school, you have other classes. I would make arrangements to buy books for those other classes and see if those books are purchased without the extra fee for "IP rights". All knowledge comes from experience. Good luck, Todd... Read More

There is no typical figure. You try to get as much as you can negotiate based on market demand, uniqueness of the product, and your proprietary rights. 5% of cost will be materially less than 5% of net revenue. You could be talking about 40%-50% less in royalties than you were anticipating. That fact does not make this royalty amount wrong or bad, but if you have the ability to negotiate 5% of net revenue, then 5% of cost is underselling your position. There are times when something other than net revenue or net sales is appropriate for determining royalty percentage. When your product is only a portion of what is being sold (like licensing air bag technology for a car), it may be appropriate to fix the royalty to your contribution to the bundle rather than the cost of the bundle. That said, I prefer to negotiate a flat dollar amount (e.g., $0.50/unit). Having a royalty based on cost just further incentivizes construction of a cheaper product and you may not want to further that incentive with your product. None of these ideas are intended to provide an opinion of your situation, I don't have the facts to offer an informed opinion, but these are the issues that come to mind when I think about this type of situation. Good luck, Todd... Read More

It depends upon the contract. If you think you have been wronged, bring an action in small claims court. The judge will look at the contract and decide whether you should be paid the fee and/or whether the boutique can use the photos. Not every legal dispute requires expensive lawyers. http://www.flcourts.org/resources-and-services/family-courts/family-law-self-help-information/small-claims.stml Good luck, Todd... Read More

Here's the book I use, which you may be able to purchase or find at a local law library: http://www.amazon.com/Drafting-Patent-License-Agreements-Seventh/dp/1617461210/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-3&keywords=brunsvold . It includes a sample agreement and various language you may wish to use as well as the situations in which the language is appropriate. Good luck, Todd... Read More

If you are printing images that are copied or derivative of copyrighted images, you could be liable for copyright infringement. If you are selling materials bearing trademarks of others that leads consumers to believe that your goods are sold with the permission of or in collaboration with the trademark holders, you could be liable for trademark infringement.... Read More

Absent a contract with your employer explicitly indicating the employer has a right to works you create or the specific work you created, ownership of a work can only pass to the employer if it is a work made for hire. See  http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf.  From the facts you provided, it does not appear this matter is a work for hire and you should retain ownership, although additional facts could change that opinion. Good luck, Todd... Read More

The question does not come up because no one attempts to enforce copyrights/trademark rights against an individual that makes one t-shirt.  You would need to do something very significant while wearing the t-shirt to get it noticed enough that a rights holder would make an issue of it.... Read More

Hi Kelly, No one can enforce a patent until the patent issues. However, it is possible if the patent issues, that the patent owner could seek damages for infringement dating back to when the patent application was first published. You could proceed with your idea and take the risk that the patent application does not issue or that the patent owner will not be able to seek damages for past infringement, but you'll need to evaluate whether you want to take that risk. The line 'someone started a patent four days ago' is suspect. Patent applications are not normally published until 18 months after filing. Maybe it published four days ago. If you are taking a chance based on how long you expect the application to be pending, you should verify the filing date. State of residence does not influence any element of this question. Patents on apps are hard to come by. I would suggest meeting with a patent attorney, at least in a consultation, to discuss your idea and whether or not it is patentable.   Good luck, Todd... Read More

Plagiarism, in and of itself, is not a crime. At most, it is an academic matter and should be taken up with the school. You may have a separate claim for copyright infringement. You should take your original work to a copyright (or intellectual property) local to you along with a detailed explanation of the material taken and determine if you have a claim for copyright infringement and, if so, what your options are. Many attorneys will offer a free consultation, which will provide more useful information than you will obtain from a question in this forum for your particular situation. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Squatting on a domain name with the intent to extort money from someone else who owns the trademark rights has been an issue. You would need to show the domain name holder knew of your registration and purchased the domain to keep it from you until you paid for it. Your situation is clearly different. Based solely on the facts you have described, I don't think you are in a situation to seize any domains or twitter handles. Good luck, Todd... Read More

The standardized exams are protected under copyright law. Whether you are copying the questions verbatim or making your own based on the questions is not unlike copying the music exactly or making your own music based on someone else's, your actions can still result in copyright infringement. Whether you publish the questions online or just to a select group of students, whether you operate for free or for profits, these are choices that could impact a fair use defense. Before you get yourself in trouble, you may want to speak with a copyright attorney and have them review a sample of exactly what you intend to do so that you can calculate your risk. Good luck, Todd... Read More

You have to be careful when dealing with an invention company, many, even well know ones, are unscrupolus. Check the Patent Office website for information on the subject: http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/scam_prevention/#heading-1 You may even find it less costly to use an attorney rather than an invention company; you could get more for less based on what I have seen such companies charge.  One thing you should ask the company is: "what percentage of your clients have recovered more money as a result your marketing efforts than they spent in fees to you". I would guess that it is a very small persentage.  ... Read More