Week 10 EOC : Lawyer Jokes

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

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.

This was interesting to me because in a case where someone is treated poorly during an event such as a concert, it would be useful to know who is held responsible for the guard’s actions.

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.

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.

http://www.letters.org/permission-letter/permission-letter.html

http://wustl.edu/policies/request.html

http://www.washburn.edu/statements-disclosures/copyright/faculty-staff/permission/sample-letter.html