What Happens When Countries Disagree Over IP?
When companies or individuals are accused of stealing from each other, lawsuits happen. When countries do it, it’s not so simple. China has been accused of stealing IP from US…
Copyright
What Happens When the Public Trademarks You?
Trademarks are normally developed through long marketing meetings and lots of brainstorming. Selecting a Trademark is often a difficult decision involving aesthetics, what appeals to the right demographic, and so…
Watch Out for these IP Ownership Problems
Many startups don’t start with a formal business agreement. Instead, it’s just a small group of people with an idea. Perhaps it’s just one person with an idea and several…
COPYRIGHT PREREGISTRATION: WHEN AND WHY
The Artists’ Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005 permits preregistration of certain types of unpublished works if it determines that such works have a history of infringement prior to…
COPYRIGHT FAIR USE DEFENSE
Copyright laws were designed to recognize the creative rights — and their resultant profits — that artists and authors possess in the creative works they contribute to society. Accordingly, such…
Second Life TOS: A Partial Analysis and How to Protect your Digital Content
In November 2003, Linden announced that it would recognize participants’ full intellectual property protection for the digital content they created or otherwise owned in Second Life. As a result, Second…
Before you begin Help
APLegal Help Titles, names, short phrases and slogans This is one of the most common areas of confusion for people seeking protection of their intellectual property — please be sure…
Registered Copyright
Grounded in the US Constitution, US Copyright laws protects a creation that is fixed in a tangible medium. At the moment the creation is fixed, a copyright is automatically secured. That…