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{ Ascentage Law, PLLC
Legal services for creative minds
Email: [email protected] Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
Phone: +1-617-475-1603 Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA
Phone: +1-603-227-0500
Ñ Ascentage Law is a boutique business, IP, & licensing firm located in Cambridge, Massachuse?s USA and Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA.
Ñ What type of legal work do we do? Ó Patents Ó Copyrights Ó Trademarks Ó Licensing Ó Corporate/business law Ó Publishing law
Firm Background
{ { What it is:
Ñ Educational Ñ Informational
Ó Please ask quesitons but keep them general so they can apply to everyone!
Ñ Fun
What it is not:
Ñ An analysis of the quality of your work
Ñ A guarantee people will buy your work
Ñ The end-‐‑all, be-‐‑all on legal issues and advice
Ñ The creation of an a?orney-‐‑client relationship
Tonight’s workshop
{ Ñ I can protect the title of my book just like I can protect the name of my business.
Not really…
Myth #1
{ { Trademark Law
Ñ “A word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.”
Ñ Examples Ó FedEx, McDonald’s, Big Mac,
Pizza Hut, Pepsi
Copyright Law
Ñ “Original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression”
Ñ Examples Ó Books, poetry, artwork,
musical lyrics, musical compositions, computer code, pictures
Copyright v. Trademark
But wait…what about the “For Dummies” series…
Copyright Law 101
Ñ What rights do I have to my work under copyright law?
Ó Reproduction right -‐‑-‐‑ the right to make copies of a protected work
Ó Distribution right -‐‑-‐‑ the right to sell or otherwise distribute copies to the public
Ó Right to create adaptations (called derivative works) -‐‑-‐‑ the right to prepare new works based on the protected work, and
Ó Performance and display rights -‐‑-‐‑ the rights to perform a protected work (such as a stageplay) or to display a work in public.
Ñ NOTE: There are a few more but these are the main ones
Ñ What does copyright NOT protect? Ó Ideas Ó Facts Ó Individual book titles
{ Ñ A copyright filing is not necessary for protection.
No…yes…sort of.
Myth #2
Ñ Establishes public record of claim Ñ Must file before infringement lawsuit in US Ñ If done w/in 5 years of publication, “prima facie” evidence of ownership
Ñ If done w/in 3 months of publication, statutory damages & a?orney’s fees can be awarded Ó Without this only actual damages & profits
Ñ US Customs Service registration
Benefits of Copyright Registration
Ñ Process Ó eFile -‐‑ $35 Ó Paper – Form TX
Ñ Ownership Ó Single authorship Ó Co-‐‑authorship Ó Work made for hire
Ñ Duration Ó Generally = Life of the author + 70 years Ó Works made for hire, anonymous, or pseudonym =
95 from first publication OR 120 years from creation, whichever is first
Registering your copyright is easy!
Ñ Insert a copyright notice Ó Copyright 2013 Mitchell A. Bragg. All rights reserved.
Ñ Location Ó Title page, inside of the title page, the page immediately following the title page
Ó Bo?om of website Ó On fliers / handouts
What if you still do not want to register your work?
{ Ñ I can use the work of someone else as long as I give credit.
Ñ I can use the work of someone else as long as it is on the internet.
Ñ I can use the work of someone else as long as I use less than 20%, less than 3 lines, or less than 3 notes.
No.
Myth(s) #3
Ñ Public domain works = all works published in the U.S. before 1923 Ó After that it can get tricky…
Ñ What about the less than 20%, 3 cord, 3 line, etc. “rules”? Ó They are not true.
Ñ When in doubt, get permission!
What can I use that is made by others?
Ñ What is it? Ó Makes it legally permissible for you to use a
copyrighted work without permission for purposes such as commentary, criticism, parody, news reporting, and scholarship
Ñ Factors Ó the purpose and character of the use, including
whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
Ó the nature of the copyrighted work; Ó the amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; Ó and the effect of the use upon the potential market
for or value of the copyrighted work.
What about “fair use”?
{ Ñ I can write about whatever and whoever I want if I say it is fiction.
No.
Myth #4
Defamation
Ñ Definition Ó A legal claim involving injury to one'ʹs reputation caused by a false statement of fact
Ñ Publication of the statement Ó Something was communicated to a third-‐‑
party Ñ Statement is about the plaintiff
Ó It need not name the person explicitly if there is enough to ID the person)
Ñ The statement harmed the reputation of the plaintiff
Ó This means that it more than just insulting, it must do more, such as lower the person in the esteem of his peers or cause injury to his business/trade)
Ñ Published with some level of fault Ó This means the defendant failed to do
something he should of done or did something he should not have done)
Ñ No applicable privilege applies Ó public officials, public figures or ma?ers of
public concern
Ñ Common Defenses Ó Pure opinion Ó Fair comment Ó The truth
Defamation
{ { Libel
Ñ Wri?en
Slander
Ñ Spoken
Types of Defamation
{ { Invasion of Privacy
Ñ Definition Ó Publishing private facts about an individual, the publication of which would be offensive to a reasonable person, so long as the facts are not “newsworthy”
False light, rights of publicity, & misappropriation
Ñ Definition Ó Protect people from offensive and false facts stated about them to the public
Ó Protect people from false endorsements
Other concerns when sharing facts about others
{ Ñ I can’t do this on my own. No.
Myth #5
Ñ Legal books Ó The Fine Print of Self Publishing by Mark Levine Ó The Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman Ó Patent, Copyright, & Trademark by Richard Stim
Ñ Websites/blogs Ó Citizen Media Law Project – www.citmedialaw.org
Ó Stanford Fair Use – fairuse.stanford.edu Ó U.S. Copyright Office circulars– h?p://www.copyright.gov/circs/
Resources
{ Ascentage Law, PLLC
Legal services for creative minds
Email: [email protected] Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
Phone: +1-617-475-1603 Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA
Phone: +1-603-227-0500
