Many people seem to think that putting a copyright notice on their work protects their rights. They are only partly right. Registering the copyright is an important step. If you register your copyright before an infringement occurs, you have a great deal more leverage in enforcing your rights.

Question: What does Copyright Law protect?

Copyright Law protects original works of authorship, including artistic and literary works for the life of the creator plus 70 years. This means that the copyright owner has the exclusive right to license, reproduce, perform, and display the work (subject to the “fair use” doctrine discussed below).

Many photographers use music to enhance their photography. But since music is a work protected by copyright law, make sure that you honor the copyright of the composer, too.

Most photographers recognize that copying music from a friend or downloading from a music sharing website is illegal. But even if you purchased the CD or song outright, you may be infringing on the copyrights if you use the music for more than personal purposes.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether software companies can be liable for their products that enable illegal sharing of music and video files. The case of M.G.M. v. Grokster has the attention of major and diverse players. Over 55 amicus briefs – statements by those who are not directly involved in the case – have been submitted to the Court for consideration. These include the NFL, the NBA, the Christian Coalition, Senators Leahy and Hatch, and two photography groups - the PPA and the ASMP, which specifically note that the “illegal file-sharing poses particularly significant risks for publication photographers and other small copyright owners whose livelihoods depend to a substantial degree upon commercial exploitation of their creative works.” Some of the materials can be viewed here: http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/mpaa/index.html

You’ll often see a copyright “notice” – the familiar © or the word
“copyright” with a date and name of the copyright owner - posted on
works of authorship. This copyright notice is no longer required for
copyright protection, but it may be a good idea to use it.

Copyright is a legal form of protection granted by the U.S. Constitution
for original works of authorship. Things such as books, plays, music,
photographs and even websites are protected by copyright law.

How to conduct an effective patent search?

To conduct an effective search, it is always better to start writing a brief description of what your invention is all about. To begin with, state the problem and solution to overcome it. Your solution might be in the form of novel process, product, device, apparatus, article or mere ornamental design. A comprehensive search strategy will include three main inevitable steps and they are:

(1) General key words search = More hits
(2) Classification codes search = Cannot be determined (depends on the subject matter of invention)
(3) Hybrid search (classification code(s) + keyword(s)) = Relatively less no. of hits (depends on the subject matter of invention)

Intellectual Property (”IP”) crime (counterfeiting and piracy as it is more widely known), has grown considerably over the past 10 years and is reported to have serious economic effects both in the UK and globally. Ineffective enforcement of intellectual property rights (”IPRs”) is a significant cost to industry in terms of damage to innovation and wealth creation.

Real estate lawyers take head. Waiting in the tall grass of your client’s real estate development project may be a thorny copyright issue that could cost your client all of the profit it earned on the project, and would probably buy you a serious malpractice claim.

In the course of developing a real estate project, whether it is a residential community or a commercial project, a central component of the project is the architectural plan. Unless the developer (and the developer’s counsel) are aware of how the Copyright laws affects what the developer can (and more importantly, can’t) do with the plan, the developer may find itself on the receiving end of a Copyright infringement lawsuit. Why? Because an architectural plan, as well as other architectural works, are protected under Copyright laws, and these laws govern who owns the plans and what can and can’t be done with the plan.

As the multi-billion dollar software industry continues to become more and more financially lucrative, some of the more unethical entrepreneurs in America are attempting to get in on the moneymaking action by distributing pirated software. Often carried out online, software piracy can cost the industry millions of dollars in lost revenue, and the offense can carry hefty punitive fines and prison sentences.