Category: Copyright

As you probably know, and this is already happening in Europe; publishers, music companies, and film companies want to have websites pulled down, ISPs fined and/or shut down if they are found to have copyrighted material on them. As a writer, this sounds like a good idea to me, because I can’t tell you how often my articles are stolen, and I find them somewhere on the Internet with someone else’s name attached. Yet, I see another problem to all of this, and I’d like to explain it to you.

First, many publishers are angry because they are finding their books reproduced, republished, and even posted on the Internet, and therefore they lose out on the revenue. You certainly can’t blame them for being upset, and as I explained as a writer I can’t either. However, if they are allowed to fill out a form with some secret Internet committee, and that group can go and pull down a website, they we’re going to have huge problems in the future. Anyone that has an Internet forum, blog network, or anything like that cannot possibly police every single person that posts a blog, article, or comment. Do you see that point?

Now then, I’d like to bring a case in point because there was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on November 8, 2011. The article was titled; “Spy Thriller: an Instant Classic-Vanishes amid Plagiarism Charges-Publisher Recalls Novel after Passages Discovered Mimicking Bond, James Bond,” by Jeffrey A Trachtenberg. Okay so, can you see the problem here? Here is a company that sells books and e-books, and it found out one of its authors had plagiarized a spy novel. Worse, the company sold 8000 copies before anyone noticed. In fact, the article stated;

“Our reviewer didn’t pick up anything suspicious, and a reader commenting on an online forum devoted to James Bond noted the similarity in the material. The online forum comment poster was able to identify at least 13 novels from which the material was similar, using Google books search engine.”

Well, there you have it. Should that publisher’s website be shut down, and taken off-line for copyright violations? Fair is fair, the publishers seem to want to be able to control other people’s ISPs and websites, and have the power to turn them off. Are you beginning to see the problems we are going to have in the future with these laws? I surely do, and I fear that it may cause less information to end up online, and allow others to control the flow of information for their own personal gain.

Having control to turn off ISPs and websites based on copyright law could turn into a can of worms and give far too much power to those who would use it corruptly. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

For those who have a website, your domain is one of the most precious things you possess. Due to this fact, optimal consideration and diligence should be applied when working with it. Yet, not every person realizes the procedures that should be undertaken for domain address stability and legal troubles are certain to show up. Many unwelcome scenarios can occur concerning legalities with domain names. Like it is valid with all other things involving laws, conflicts can become incredibly confusing for those who don’t focus on this legal field. This is exactly why domain name legal battles have to have the aid of a domain dispute attorney.

If you believe any type of common attorney is going to be sufficient for a domain name case, you need to alter your reasoning. Attorneys that do not focus on internet domains might not be alert to specific terms and regulations involved.. Of course, you would not seek the services of a divorce attorney to control your bankruptcy case. Similarly, you shouldn’t seek a personal injury lawyer to handle your domain dispute. Also, your lawyer must also know all of the details of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

Irrespective of your side (prosecutor or defendant) a skilled domain dispute attorney can help your case. Your case will benefit profoundly from a specialized attorney whether you are the accused cyber-squatter or the individual accusing another person of the offense. Should you not know what cyber-squatting is, it is the intent of holding and making use of a domain name in hopes of benefiting from an individual’s trademark.

Some specific sorts of cyber-squatting incorporate typo-squatting. Facebook as well as other social media communities have actually been most of the key targets of this form of domain name squatting. It involves adjusting the text in the trademarked name only a little so that users think that the misspelled domain name is the authentic one. Name-jacking is also a commonly employed domain squatting strategy which can be battled legally. Oftentimes you’ll discover squatters holding on to superstar name associated domain names in expectation of getting visitors or traffic or boosting the price of the domain name.

Domain theft is also quite prevalent in the sector and can more effectively be battled with a domain name lawyer. One of the more frequent illustrations of this is the loss of a domain because an employee with the domain account is not available. An experienced dispute lawyer can assist you in either of these situations.

Dissolved business partnerships also give rise to legalities, particularly when one partner always had lone access while the other business partner had nothing at all. A specialized domain dispute attorney can help with all of these domain concerns and more to enable you to achieve the most favorable end result.

Many people wrongly assume that intellectual property and copyright is identical.

However, while they do have significant overlaps and are undoubtedly related, if you speak to specialist copyright solicitors, they will be able to explain the differences. This article looks at how they relate to each other and why it is important to understand the differences between different facets of intellectual property if you ever find yourself in a situation where you think you might need to use the services of a copyright solicitor.

Generally speaking, ‘intellectual property’ is something of an umbrella term that incorporates different pillars that make up the whole. Copyright is one of these, and this pillar of intellectual property refers to recorded work. This can include literary works, artistic, dramatic or musical works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts, and computer programmes.

As the author of one of these works, you have automatic international rights to be identified as the author under the Berne Convention, the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, as well as various other laws. This is something your copyright solicitors will be able to explain to you, and it is always a good idea to talk to a copyright solicitor if you think your rights have been infringed upon because there are steps that you can take to deal with the situation.

As well as copyright, intellectual property also includes trademarks. There are two types of trademark: non-registered and registered. It can take up to 18 months to register a trademark and you are not allowed to use the ® symbol unless you have registered something. Trademarks tend to apply to things such as slogans, titles, names, words and images that help to identify a brand or business.

Intellectual property also encompasses design rights; designs can fall under both copyright and design laws, so if you have an issue with a design you should talk to your copyright solicitor. Patents are something else that falls under the general heading of intellectual property; patents require a formal application and they are generally granted by a government, giving you the patent within a particular territory or nation state. It can take up to 3 years to be granted a patent, and they help to protect inventions and industrial processes from unauthorised use.

All of this shows that while intellectual property and copyright are undoubtedly closely linked, they are not exactly the same. This is something that should be remembered if you ever need to make a claim in a case due to your copyright being infringed upon.

For an entertainment attorney who deals on and off with copyright laws and protection policies, it is quite amusing to know how people misjudge the concept of copyright. But then again it becomes the responsibility of those with knowledge to prove this myth wrong. Some people believe in avoiding the use of phrases as “I copyrighted” and “to copyright” completely as it confirms the misconception of its meaning further.

Generally people believe a piece of work is authorized to its owner when it has a registered copyright in the name of its originator. Basically, any piece of work, when created, is completely under the authority of its creator. By the Federal Law, when an idea comes into a tangible form of expression, it automatically has copyright protection. When a story is penned down; when a song, sung is put into notes, it becomes into a tangible form and hence is copyrighted.

Any work in art, design, music, literature or even an exam question paper, is the creativity of the author or originator alone and his sole property from the minute it is created and brought into a copyrightable form. There are certainly lots of advantages of registering a copyright but an unregistered piece of work does not mean that the authority of the owner can be challenged.

Due to piracy everywhere, it is considered better to have a registered copyright. Though it is not a precondition to copyright, a registration makes it easier to convince the others of your possession. In case of an infringement, producing a legally approved document ensures a stronger position in the argument. Another advantage is that any new product being produced will have a lesser chance of similarity with a registered work. When an investor or creator plans a new project, research is conducted to find out more about the existing works in the similar field. If a registered piece is copied it is plagiarism, for an unregistered piece, the originality will be hard to prove.

As an individual is generally not aware of the legal procedures, entertainment lawyers help in the process. Besides, not everyone is allowed to approach the Copyright Office for this purpose. Seeking professional help is a better option as it keeps an eye on the violation of copyright and keeps track of big and little details even if the client is too busy with his own projects and is unable to keep tabs of the protection of his product.

Many different parties rely up their copyright, therefore individuals, SMEs or large corporations often all invoke their rights.

The law surrounding this particular legal issue can be quite complex, so if you find yourself with a copyright problem it is definitely a good idea to talk to some specialist copyright lawyers in order to get a better understanding of the issue and to work out an effective solution. Read on for more information on the sort of issues a copyright lawyer deals with on a regular basis.

This area of law goes back to the 1709 Statute of Anne, when it entered common law and then, in 1911 it became statutory when the Copyright Act was passed. Most modern cases come under the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

This covers a range of difference issues and the 1988 Act states that if you are the creator of some material, you essentially have the right to decide how that material can be used. For instance, if you write a book or other literature, create dramatic, artistic or musical works, make a broadcast, film or sound recording, you are covered by the Act. If someone uses your work without your consent, such as by lending it out to the public, you might need to talk to a copyright lawyer to work out what to do.

Your rights cover things such as asserting your right to be identified as the author of a piece of work, as well as when it comes to issues of broadcasting, public performances, copying, lending, renting and adapting a piece of work that you have created. If you ever suspect that one or more of these rights has been breached in relation to a piece of your work [in what is known as copyright infringement], copyright lawyers will be able to advise you on your next steps.

If your work is going to be covered by copyright law then it needs to be an original piece of work and to have required a certain amount of judgement, labour or skill. It does not specifically incorporate ideas; rather, it refers to actual, tangible pieces of work. So, if you told someone you were going to write a novel on a specific subject and they used the idea, that wouldn’t be a breach. However, it would be a breach of your copyright if they stole the actual text of a novel you have written.

Things like this make this particular type of intellectual property law complicated, which is why you will find that copyright lawyers are so important.