Question: Do you know how to save five drowning lawyers?
Answer: No.
Reply: Good!
http://www.stromer.com/jokes/185jokes.html
Q: How many lawyer jokes are there?
A: Only three. The rest are true stories.
http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Lawyer.htm
Q: What do you call a lawyer gone bad?
A: Your honor.
http://www.ahajokes.com/law059.html
Question:
What's the difference between a dead skunk on the road and a dead
lawyer?
Answer: There are skid marks in front of
the skunk.
http://www.languageandlaw.org/JOKES.HTM
Vegas Vito Law
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Final Project: Own arguement and Opinion
Overall it was a great learning experience to sit down and
have a conversation with Rut Laurenon. I
agreed with just about every thing we spoke about, and all of her answers to my
questions. This experience gave me a
better understanding of where I stand on the knowledge of copyright and patent
law. ” If a
court determines that an employment relationship exists, even if the author is
not technically employed, the work-made-for-hire rule treats the author as an
employee for the purpose of determining copyright ownership.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 341) Who becomes a part of the infringement process is now
made clearer with the interview that I made and information from the book. ”Under the
Copyright Act, a copyright owner is entitled to file an infringement action in
federal court against a person who, without proper authorization of the owner
makes copies of a copyrighted work.” (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 280) Further distribution of unauthorized copies is still
subject to infringement, which is something, Rut and I both was same page about. ”Once copyright infringement is established, courts often
are willing to issue an order (termed an injunction) to prevent the infringer
from making or distributing further unauthorized copies of the original work of
authorship.” (Patent, Copyright, and
Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 282) If everything is timed perfectly, a plaintiff
can have all of their attorney fees reimbursed back to them depending on the judge’s
decision in the court room. “Copyright owners who timely register their
copyright and/or record their ownership interest also qualify to have their
attorney fees and court costs paid by an unsuccessful defendant.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 281) Also from this learning experience, I now
understand that not only are these copyright policies existent within the United
States, but internationally, this is process that is not over looked and is
also kept within a treaty. “Over 120 nations have signed treaties in
which they agree to extend reciprocal copyright protection to works authored by
nationals of the other signing countries as well as works first published in
one of the other signing countries.” (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 285) I definitely would recommend this tactic to anyone who is
looking to cement in their knowledge of copyright law, no matter what their
major is.
Final Project: Rule of Law
It was all an overall learning experience, all the way from
the questions that obtained information on how to get a song licensed to how to
protect my rights as a citizen. It is
made clear now of what can be patented and what cannot be, depending what exactly
they are. ”Despite
the fact that snippets of tones and music can be registered, a musician cannot
register one of his signature songs as a trademark.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 310) Music publication was also an interest of me since I am a
professional in the audio industry, and where its publications lie. ”Most music publishers offer an upfront sum or advance to
the songwriter and share the revenue with the songwriter as the song earns
money.” (Patent, Copyright, and
Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 294) For those who are looking to set up their own
studio at home can learn from the same experience that I have endured. “The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA) requires the
manufacturers of certain digital devices to register with the Copyright Office
and pay a statutory royalty on each device and piece of media sold.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 215) Not only can a song be licensed for protection, but a
website as well can encounter infringement as well. So, if a band decides to create a website to
get them more recognition, they also may want to look into getting that
copyrighted as well. “A website or Web page is protected under
copyright law and may be registered with the Copyright Office. The procedure for registration is established
in Copyright Circular 66, which is available at the Copyright Office website (www.copyright.gov).”
(Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim,
Pg. 341) Those are licensed and protected are also entitled to
many other damages awarded. “As an alternative to seeking damages and profits, copyright
who have timely registered their copyright may pursue statutory damages which
can be awarded without any proof of harm or defendant’s profits.” (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 3281) And there are also different types of copyrights to look
out for when getting a song protected, depending on what the person is looking
for. ”The
same person or business can own both types of copyrights, but the musical works
copyright is usually owned by the songwriter or a music publisher, and the song
recording copyright is usually owned by a record company.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 295)
Final Project: Reasoning of the Law
In some of the questions, I tried my best to make sure that
I understood what different kinds of attorneys handled what specific
cases. For example, patent attorneys
have different backgrounds for different kinds of cases ranging anywhere from
songs, music, products, or even engineering of the publications. ”Music publishers
acquire the ownership of song copyrights when the songwriter transfers
copyright ownership in exchange for payments or an ongoing royalty” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 294) One of the important highlights from the
interview, that seemed intriguing was the consequences of one that does commit
infringement. “An infringer who commits one or
more infringements during a 180-day period for purposes of commercial advantage
or private financial gain can be fined and imprisoned for one to five years
depending upon the value of the infringements.” (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 244) What I found ironic was any one who is involved in the
act is also prosecuted, but if someone didn’t know that copying wasn’t
permitted would not endure any prosecutions. ”The
government will also prosecute anyone who knowingly and willfully aids in a
criminal infringement. The government
will not prosecute innocent infringers, that is, persons who had a good-faith
reason to believe that copying was permitted, although those persons can still
be subject to a civil law suit.” (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 244) These consequences can lead to what is known as damages
to be owed. ”Also called compensatory damages,
this consists of the dollar amount of any demonstrable loss the owner suffered
as a result of the infringing activity.
This loss may be from lost sales, lost licensing revenue, or any other
provable financial loss directly attributable to the infringement.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 245) In the end these infringement lawsuits due have the set
backs and their way of backfiring on the plaintiff. “Any money made by the infringer as a result of the
infringement. These damages are only
awarded if they exceed the amount of profits lost by the copyright owner
(actual damages) as a result of the infringement.” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 310) Rut found a way to answer all my questions in a matter of
what steps I can take to better understand how I can protect something that
could create in the future. She also the
knowledge she gained from prior cases that she had taken.
Final Project: The Questions
Upon creating the questions and altering them to make the a
bit more answerable for Rut, I kept a mindset where if I were to get in a
situation, what is some advice I can seek to protect myself in the future. I also created a list of ten questions just
in the case the she becomes completely stumped and is not able to answer the
question.
Question 1:
What are some charges that an artist can press against
someone who recorded them during a performance, without their permission? How can that person who recorded them, defend
themselves?
Rut:
They would file for an injunction, which is a civil
remedy. Also they can draft financial
discovery if they have suspicion that the person who recorded them is making a
profit of their performance. This is
also known as a discovery process, which in other terms in considered a civil
lawsuit.
This question caught my attention because it is a guilty
pleasure of mine to record bands during their performance, not to make money
off of it, but to actually keep as a souvenir as a fan of theirs. ”The Unites States
passed legislation that allows a performer or record company to prevent the
unauthorized recording of a live performance, even if the performer or record
company does not own a copyright in any of the songs being performed” (Patent, Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 219) The performer can also claim statutory
damages if they wish to press charges against the defendant. “A Tennessee District Court ruled that separate sound
recordings embodying a single song constituted one work when determining
statutory damages.” (Patent, Copyright, and
Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 204)
Question
2:
If an
artist or band creates a song that is not patented and is copyright infringed
upon, what can the original artist do to claim the property?
Rut:
The
original artist would have to have a proof of ownership and/or license of the
song because it will still be considered a novel idea.
The answer to
this question would come in handy if I were ever to decide to create a song and
get it licensed. "Copyright protection
extends to any original work regardless of who created it and permission is
required for reproduction, display or distribution of the work." (Patent,
Copyright, and Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 310) This can even branch out into many other factors in which
many steps have to be taken, in order to protect the creation. ”There are two types of copyrights for music: musical works copyrights, that protect songs
and compositions, and sound recording copyrights, which protect the manner in
which music is arranged and recorded-that is, the sounds fixed on the
recording.” (Patent, Copyright, and
Trademark, Richard Stim, Pg. 294)
Question
3:
If
Security gets overly aggressive with an audience member, can that person sue for
harassment against the security guard, venue management, or the artist?
Rut:
It is
easy for different parties to get involved, in other words get ”hooked”. For example, If the security guard acted
within the scope of employment then the whole security management is
hooked. If he acted out of the scope
then the management can not he held account for. The venue also has their duty attend to the
patrons.
Final Project: Legal Authority
The person that I found and chose was Rut Laurenon. She is an attorney in an office, which is
located on Lake Mead Blvd, and Buffalo drive.
I found her through making connections with one of the students at the
Art Institute who in fact is actually her husband. Before contacting Rut, I made several
attempts in contacting other attorneys or lawyers, but had very little success
in contacting them. In those cases, I
would get no answer, no replies, or even scheduling conflicts. So Rut made the perfect candidate for this
assignment for several occasions ranging from already have broken the ice in a
prior situation where we had already met, to having the same schedule layout on
certain days of the week. I know that she
were a good choice to have in this assignment because upon asking her husband
what type of cases she has take, I noticed that some of the questions I
originally came up with would not really suit the experiences she has had in
the past cases. So, my alternative was
to alter the questions a bit, not only to make them answerable, but to also
make her more comfortable in responding to these questions. Just a few moments before starting the
interview, I let her know that I was going to be taking a few notes down during
the interview that I was going to use towards my project. I also made it very clear with her that if by
any chance she did not know the answer to the question, then it would just
become a matter of just giving me advice on what someone do that situation, if
they were to come across it. She also
mentioned that in the past she had taken cases that related to health issues and
cases that had dealt with injury.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Week 9 EOC: Letters of Permission
The first source appropriately applies to those who are
looking for a way to celebrate an event in an open area. This letter of permission will allow those
who are attending the event to be able to set foot on the premises. I specifically chose this letter of
permission so I will have a good idea of the steps I will take to set up an
event in the future. This doesn’t
necessarily mean that this will allow me to do whatever I desire on these
premises, having the ability to play loud music or some kind of pyrotechnics would
also require to acquire other permits.
The second source suits the needs for those who are looking to duplicate
the work from a textbook from another.
This letter of permission is perfect for anyone who wants to use a quote
from author, into their project for school.
This permit format will come in handy for me in the near future if I
ever decide to use a fragment of a book in one of my research projects. This is also helpful because I can also get
permission for others who are going to want to use the material in the
book. The finally letter of permission
is probably the most commonly used permit for anyone who is into digital
photography or any type of course that requires a movie scene to be used in a
project. This can also permit an
individual to use a specific movie scene for a project that is to be uploaded
to a social networking or media viewing site such as YouTube. This is a good source to have, especially if
it is someone who is enrolled in the same school as I am because it will avoid
any situations that might involve copyright infringement.
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