Our office frequently receives calls from young entrepreneurs asking us to copyright their latest fashion design. Sadly, we tell them that copyright does not offer the protection they seek and, in fact, they will have to enter the market place with the expectation that their designs, if good enough, will inspire “knock off” copies. This state of affairs may change, however, should the Design Piracy Prohibition Act (H.R. 2196) become law. The bill, which was introduced in April by William (Bill) Delahunt, U.S. Representative, Massachusetts 10th District, offers copyright protection to fashion designs broadly defined as clothing, handbags, duffel bags, tote bags, and eyeglass frames.

Copyright is a relevant part of our lives and yet, despite its impact on our lives, people have insufficient knowledge of what copyright is. Following are questions I am often asked by clients developing their website, looking for photos/artwork to use on their materials, or those interested in protecting their business logo.

With this message I have created a copyright. Should this post become as popular as say a Beatle’s song I could sue for royalties from everyone who forwards it. The copyright on the post lasts 75 years and if I register the copyright it will last as long as 100 years. Even what is in the copyright and what is not is questionable as I can later derive work from this post and extend the copyright.

Copyright lawyers have any number of challenges in the online world of the World Wide Web. The ability to copy and distribute digital media, including text, music and images, all of which may be copyright protected, allows for infringement to occur at a seemingly unstoppable rate. As is noted by so many commentators, however, copyright holders get the benefit of having their works seen in ways and in numbers that were simply not possible before the Internet.

Learn how the Bern Convention has international standards to protect copyright. Article lists the basic principles of the convention and the minimum durations set-out to protect copyright.

The revision of the Copyright Act in 1976 changed the way exclusive copyright existed and terminated. The 1976 act is now the primary basis of copyright law in the United States. Basic rights of copyright holders are codified, as well as the now oft employed “fair use” doctrine.

There is a lot of time and effort that goes into creating a logo that accurately represents your band. As such, it’s important to take the proper steps to protect your art so you have some recourse if infringement occurs.

The world of intellectual property is filled with companies and people who live in the color of gray. Attorneys for the plaintiff assert IP rights on behalf of their clients. Lawyers for defendants argue that no intellectual property rights exist or that their clients aren’t infringing on those rights. In the world of copyright law, the tension between those asserting rights and those defending is ever present.

Few legal principles inspire more confusion than copyright law. Our copyright lawyers often spend as much time educating our clients as we do digging into their specific legal issues. Copyright law, like other intellectual property rights, is inevitably fact specific. Obtaining legal advice about your specific situation from a qualified copyright attorney is critical. Educating yourself about US copyright law so that you understand what your lawyer is telling you is just as important.

I’m a U.S. Patent Attorney here to help you understand patents, copyrights and trademarks. To file a copyright, follow these simple steps.

Trying to copyright register your song through the mail is known as “poor man’s copyright.” The steps to this type of process include: creating an original song; putting it in a fixed form (i.e. music notes on paper, sound recordings on a CD); placing the finished song in an envelope; and sending it to yourself using registered mail.

Musical Works fall under Copyright Law and are entitled to recourse should infringement occur. Find out what constitutes a musical work and how to protect it.

Many people don’t seem to understand the differences between trademarks, copyrights and patents. It’s an interesting world out there, full of signs, slogans, logos, books, artistic work, and too many other things to mention in a short article.

Many artists are confused at the concept of how to copyright their songs. This article clearly outlines the steps you need for copyright protection of your valuable work.

The rights granted through copyright law are very important to the owner of the copyright. As such, it is imperative to understand who the owner of the work is to determine who actually has the rights.

Could copyright get any more complicated? There are so many factors that play into the laws governing each work, and determining the duration of copyright is no exception.

Many countries have implemented protective measures to curb violations in copyright policies. This is a way of protecting the original works both published and unpublished. The original works of artists, musicians and other literary authors are protected by means of copyright. The original owner has exclusive rights to reproduce copies and distribute the content.

To include the notice, or not to include the notice? A common point of confusion for copyright creators is whether they need to include the copyright notice with their work for copyright protection.

Jump start your knowledge about copyright by learning about what it is, how it’s attained, and what falls under copyright law. The more I speak with people, the more I realize copyright is a topic that is still commonly misunderstood.

Newspapers probably are the biggest victims of copyright infringement and generally they didn’t care much, as that was old news by the time anyone copied it and the new news is today. Yesterday is gone.

A veteran Silicon Valley startup business lawyer explains for founders the meaning of the work-for-hire doctrine and how it applies in the context of startups. As a founder, you need to be able to spot the potential problems where the work-for-hire concept applies and you need to understand basic guidelines for how it works. Don’t get caught short and lose rights to your valuable intellectual property in this vital area. Part of the author’s Startup Law 101 Series of tutorials for founders and entrepreneurs.

The Indian Copyright Law under the Indian Copyright of 1957 is the true manifestation of the Berne Convention of Copyrights, of which India is an active member. The law clearly states that the owner has the sole right on his copyright. The law not only protects works of art from ‘theft’ but also protects dramatic, artistic and musical works along with cinematography films and sound recording. Violation of copyright law 1957 is an offense and is punished likewise.

It is absolutely essential that all screenwriters looking to profit from their work have an understanding of copyright law. If the legal procedures necessary to protect your work are not undertaken, it will be impossible to prove that your work is your own. Luckily, the proper procedures are easy to understand and execute.

Recently, one of my articles was placed on a site without proper credits. It was brought to my attention by this site (EzineArticles.com). I had submitted my article to them for posting, when to my shock; they informed me that someone else was claiming ownership of my work!

Confused about UK Copyright law in regards to music? Well, this article is here to help you understand about UK copyright law and expell some of the myths surrounding it.

There are a lot of ways to make money on the World Wide Web that a lot of internet users from different parts of the globe are currently engaged in different fields of eCommerce. They can be lucrative, well-known businesses or small yet manageable means of making money online. Any of these can be an option that the person can opt for to be able to earn on the sides aside from the normal 9 to 5 jobs that he or she are employed to every single day. For this article, the idea of making money through expired copyrights will be discussed as this is a possible though normally misunderstood sideline that people adopt when on the web.

What happens when a third party end-user posts defamatory or copyright infringing content on your website? On February 1, 1996, the United States Congress passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA) as an amendment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Under the CDA, an Internet Service Providers (ISP) are provided an exclusion from certain liability for information published by others. The computer service provider is afforded a certain level of immunity under law for information which originates with third party users of the service. Three factors are typically analyzed in determining whether or not a computer service provider is afforded section 230 protection.

Patent and copyright law can be difficult for laymen to understand completely. That is why you might need the services of an attorney to help you fill out the paperwork that will protect your patented or copyrighted materials.

This article will discuss three ways YOU can profit from public domain works. Public domain works are those artistic works: books, art, music, etc. that are no longer protected by copyright. Once the copyright is no longer valid, the works pass into the public domain and anyone can freely use them for fun or profit. The criteria for determining when a work is in the public domain varies from country to country, but is specified in the copyright law for each country.

When deciding to protect your logo or design it can be a bit confusing trying to decide how to protect it. After all, your logo is basically the face of your product line or your services so it makes sense that you’d want to do the right thing when it comes to ensuring that you have exclusive rights to it. The question is should you copyright your logo or trademark your logo? The answer, surprisingly, may be both.