Last weekend, two of my best friends from law school, Amy Strickland and Ellen Donati Flechas, and I set out on a girls’ weekend trip, which my Dad coined the “Lady Lawyer Weekend.” A cheesy name, but it works. It took nearly four plus months of planning to find a weekend where we all could … Continue reading
Can you believe the year is half way over? It seems like one day I was bundling up wondering if the winter would ever end, and today I’m getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July. The post this week is a look back over the hot topics and posts you, my readers, have found … Continue reading
We all learned in elementary school stealing is wrong. If it is not yours, then you cannot use it without asking permission. You cannot take someone’s crayons. You cannot go home with someone else’s baby doll. You cannot ride and take someone else’s bicycle. A simple concept even kindergartners can grasp. However, for some reason, … Continue reading
The creative economy should not be about simply adding to the body of creative work, but should truly be a discussion on how creativity adds to an overall economy. Without the intellectual property component the “economy” part of creative economy will grow slowly and never contribute significantly to the bottom line overall. Intellectual property is YOUR fortune, but it is also a state’s economic fortune. Continue reading
I know you all heard about the $7.4 million verdict for the Marvin Gaye family over the popular tune “Blurred Lines” penned by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. The story has been everywhere – on the morning news, in the newspapers, in the Twitter feeds and all over Facebook. Here is a mash-up someone put … Continue reading
Filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office 3 years prior to the release of the sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird are facts to show the new book had been planned for awhile. Continue reading
I have a resolution for you that will be easy to keep. I’ll give you a hint. You can spend a lot of time with it. It shows up about every 4 to 6 weeks. You always preface your actions by saying “better safe than sorry” or “I wasn’t sure, so I want to be … Continue reading
Maria Pallante, who holds the honor of being the Register for Copyrights in the United States Copyright Office, released mid-week the first major update in over two decades related to administrative practice. A public draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practice – Third Edition, or as I am now calling it the “Copyright … Continue reading
The big film news this week was author E.L. James’s announcement via twitter that a trailer for the much anticipated film Fifty Shades of Grey, set for release in February 2015, would be …[ahem – clears throat] … “released from bondage” to the masses later this month on July 24. While shopping in Target this … Continue reading
Several months ago I wrote about a southern tale gone awry. The villain was the Monroe County Heritage Museum and the victim was Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. You can read the tale about the Monroe County Heritage Museum opposing Ms. Lee’s claim to the trademark registration in the phrase To Kill … Continue reading
I love a good countdown show. Whether it is the Top 10 Biggest Celebrity Fashion Mistakes, Billboard Hot 100, I Love the 80s or my childhood weekly favorite of Casey Kasem’s Top 40, I absolutely have to know who is Number 1. I blame all of this on too many Sunday afternoons with my hotpink … Continue reading
Did you know that separate from a book, play or movie characters in those creative pieces can also receive copyright protection? It’s true. One of the early cases defining this idea is Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp in 1930. Judge Learned Hand recognized that characters could receive copyright protection; however, he did so with something … Continue reading
Statute of RyAnne 