by eclewis | Dec 18, 2014 | IP Law
Recent developments coming to light regarding the use of music in torture by the CIA in Guantanamo indicated that Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy’s music was one of the artists whose music was being used. As a semi-serious response, Skinny Puppy has since invoiced the Federal Government for $666,000 for the use of their music without permission or licensing from the group and is considering a lawsuit.
Skinny Puppy’s self-described “unsettling” music being used in torture was not surprising to them, but they were not very happy about it. It is interesting given the group’s history as well. Skinny Puppy has been a long-time proponent for animal rights and against animal dissection and other practices that Skinny Puppy considers akin to torture of animals.
While there have been numerous reports over the years of different music from Metallica to Sesame Street being used in such ways, nobody has appeared to try and take legal action for it yet. Nevertheless, it would likely end up being a long and unsuccessful road trying to fight the Federal Government against these practices.
Owners of copyrights have the exclusive rights to all of the following under 17 U.S.C. § 106, and if you do one of the following without being an owner then it would classify as copyright infringement:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
Since there is no evidence the government copied or distributed Skinny Puppy’s music, it looks like the big question is whether or not using the music in a prison in Cuba would constitute a “public performance” under the law or if the government is otherwise protected in its use. It will be interesting to see how much further this action goes.
If you have questions about copyright or other intellectual property rights for your music or business, contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, P.C., home of your Denver Business Lawyer, Elizabeth Lewis, 720-258-6647 or email her at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Nov 6, 2014 | IP Law
After you have researched whether or not your business name or idea is being used by anyone else, see How to Research Your Business Name and How to Research Your Business Idea, it is important to take measures to protect it appropriately.
If the idea is an invention, or improvement to an existing one, that is useful, novel, non-obvious, adequately described or enabled, and claimed by the inventor in clear and definite terms, then it may be patentable, and you should speak with an attorney right a way to discuss the patent application process. You may also consider applying for a provisional patent, which can protect your idea for the first twelve months and allow you to use the phrase “Patent Pending.”
If the idea is of the artistic or creative variety such as a painting, novel, or movie, then you should sit down with an attorney to discuss whether or not it is protected by copyright and whether or not it is a good idea to have the copyright registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. This is usually a straightforward process that can be done electronically.
If your idea is a name, slogan, symbol, sound, or other identifier for your business or its goods and services, then it may be protectable as a trademark. Trademark protections can exist under common law, state law, or federal law, so you should be sure to discuss what is most appropriate and cost-effective for your business with an attorney. Federal trademarks can be especially difficult and expensive to obtain and keep, so this will require some careful deliberation. You may also need to consider whether or not your business needs to be formed a particular way or if a trade name should be filed in order to help protect the name or aspects of the business idea.
If you are thinking about discussing or pitching your idea to others, you should seriously evaluate whether a Non-Disclosure Agreement or other form of confidentiality protection is suitable. These can help protect you from having your idea copied by those you discuss it with, but it can be a delicate issue to raise in front of friends, family, or potential business partners.
Remember that if you do not protect yourself, you could wind up finding yourself in a lengthy and costly court battle to stop someone from profiting off of your idea, and you still might lose. This business idea could be the livelihood of you and your family, so why risk losing it? Do not let this happen to you.
If you have questions about or need help with protecting your business name or idea, contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis PC, home of your Denver Business Lawyer, Elizabeth Lewis, 720-258-6647 or email her at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Oct 8, 2014 | IP Law
This post begins a series on open source software licenses. Look forward to forthcoming posts covering more open source software licenses, as well as the differences between them.
First of all, what is an open source software license? Open source software licenses are a license that copyright holders (the original creators) apply to their software which generally allows users to make use of, change, and share the software with others without (much) limitation, while also making the source code available, but still protecting themselves from legal liability.
One of the most popular of such licenses is GNU’s General Public License. To see the complete language, visit https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html. Not only does this license make your software open source, but it also takes measures to ensure that it stays that way, even if someone modifies and redistributes it. This practice is known as “copyleft,” which grants licensees the right to freely use, change, and share the software, but it also requires licensees to provide the program, or any modified version, under the same license, in order to keep it freely distributable.
Now we will do an overview of the features and requirements of the latest version (v3) of the GNU GPL.
- You must provide a full copy of the license with the program.
- You must make the source code available to the user of the program.
- You have the option to charge a fee for the program.
- There is no warranty of any kind with the program, but one can be provided separately for a fee.
- Any modified versions of the program must be clearly marked as such and licensed under the GNU GPL also.
- Users can sell modified versions of the program or programs of their own containing code licensed under GNU GPL, if they provide the source code and users can freely redistribute and modify it just as under the GNU GPL.
- Patents cannot be used to render the program non-freely usable, modifiable, or distributable.
- Users have unlimited permission to run the software but if a user fails to comply with the license in some way, it is terminated. (Generally, if the user ceases all violations, the license is provisionally reinstated unless the copyright holder terminates your license completely within 60 days.)
- All recipients of the program are automatically granted this license to use the program.
- There is a limited ability to supplement the license with additional terms.
- The option to use either the stated version of the license or any future versions of the GNU GPL is provided within the license.
- Your liability is limited by this license.
In order to use the GNU GPL for your software you must include all of the following language in your program and at least the first section below in each file, along with a notation to where the complete notice and license can be located. You should also provide information on how you can be contacted as well.
<one line to give the program’s name and a brief idea of what it does.> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
If you have any questions about deciding on a license or creating specialized license for your software, contact the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, PC, home of your Denver Small Business Lawyer, Elizabeth Lewis at 720-258-6647 or email her at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Jul 8, 2014 | IP Law
If you have a particular name that you want to use or are already using for your business, it is important to act quickly to find out if anyone else is using that name. There a few simple research steps and searches that you can do yourself, right now, which can give you a better idea of the status of your business name.
Before getting started with these steps, it is essential to remember that you perform several different searches. Try alternative spellings, as well as putting in additional words that might make sense to be included within the name. Basically, you want to try and search for anything that might sound like or get confused with the name that you have selected.
The first step is easy enough, simply run a few searches with an online search engine, like Google, of the business name. Pay attention to the results for not only exact name matches but similar matches that are making or performing related goods or services to what you had in mind with the name.
Next you can try going to a domain name registration site, such as GoDaddy.com, and entering in your business name into the domain name search. This will let you know whether or not someone already owns that website domain. Remember to take note that even if your preferred domain like .com is available, be sure to look through the other search results to see if someone is using your business name in another domain like .net, .us or others.
Digging in a bit deeper with your research, you should go to the U.S. Patent Office website. Here you will be able to see if someone has previously trademarked your business name. To run the search, go to tmsearch.uspto.gov, then click on “Basic Word Mark Search” and start running different searches to see what names have been trademarked.
Now that you have searched the national trademark database, you will want to narrow down your research more locally. You can do this by visiting the website for the Office of the Secretary of State for each state that you are or might do business in. For example, the Colorado Secretary of State website is sos.state.co.us, and from there you can select “Businesses, trademarks, trade names,” then click on “Search business database.” Now you can run searches to see trademarks, trade names, and business names.
Following these steps will help you go from a broad to narrow perspective in your research, so that you can hone in on what exactly is happening with a particular business name. With all of this new information in hand, you can begin thinking more seriously about what to do next with your business name.
If you have any questions about what your research turned up or if you are ready to take the next step in forming your business or protecting a business name, do not hesitate to reach out to the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, PC, the home of your Denver Business Lawyer, Elizabeth Lewis at 720-258-6647 or email her at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.
by eclewis | Mar 22, 2011 | Business News, Misc. Legal Tidbits
Many businesses have confidential information – whether it is credit card receipts with business credit card information on them, contracts with client names and addresses on them, or bank statements with financial information on them. Businesses need to keep this information secure for multiple reasons – rarely does a business owner think about consequences such as business identity theft, lawsuits from clients, or denial of trade secret status if confidential information isn’t confidential.
By allowing confidential information to be stored on desks that are available to everyone’s eyes, thrown away without being shredded, or stored insecurely on laptops, a businesses faces threats like the above. If your business has any confidential information it collects, it is important to have a confidential documents policy for both soft and hard copies of documents. For financial information, you should speak with both your Denver small business accountant and Denver small business lawyer to see what you should store and how. For all other documents, you should speak to your Colorado small business lawyer and Colorado insurance agent to make sure you are protected. As always, you can call me, your Denver Business Lawyer, at 720-258-6647, email me, or click on the right to Book an Appointment now!
