WK 07 EOC: 10 Intellectual Property Questions

1. How do I know what form of intellectual property protection is available for my work?

2. How "original" does my work have to be to merit copyright protection?

3. How much of my work is protected under a copyright?

4. Can I protect multiple but related works under the same registration?

5. How can I prove that there has been an infringement on my copyright?

6. Are there specialized courts in the United States that hear intellectual property claims?

7. Do you need permission to take a picture of someone if you will not be able to recognize them?

8. Is it illegal to Photoshop someone's picture and put it up on the Internet?

9. Is it illegal to post pictures taken of a live sporting event on the internet?

10. If you take a photograph of a structure such as Willis Tower from an abutting private lot can you sell the photograph?

WK 06 EOC: Illicit

“Each year, online piracy and the sale of counterfeit goods cost American businesses billions of dollars and result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs,” said Senator Patrick Leahy

Counterfeit DVDs, Rolex watches, and Gucci handbags being sold on the corner of any given New York City Street or other major metropolitan street corner reach much farther than the local level but farther abroad for their illicit activity. These items can be traced back to China and even terrorist groups looking to make money for unknown agendas. Counterfeiting is a worldwide epidemic and is not just confined to the city street anymore but also the internet.

Rick Cotton, chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Privacy, noted to The Washington Post, “There is an epidemic of digital theft on broadband Internet. This bill is actually quite a narrow, focused effort to address a portion of that epidemic.”  

Some efforts are being made to combat the tide of counterfeiting going on. On Nov. 19, 2010, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which allows the government to use court orders to shut down websites thought to infringe on copyright. Under the bill, a blacklist of domain names is formed, and the Attorney General may blacklist domain names with the consent of the judicial district in which the domain name registrar is located. The legislation allows the government to lock domain names and remove websites from view.

Even with some groups trying to combat the tide of counterfeiting going on, there are still some Americans that would rather turn a blind eye to what is going on and continue purchasing said goods to get a deal and remain trendy, regardless the cost to jobs and revenue. These same people believe it that companies should be responsible for their own security.

Rex Lam, MIT ’14, said. “The entertainment industries themselves should be responsible for preventing their produced material from being illegally copied.”

WK 05 EOC: Lawyers Looking for Fame

“People just come to me. I never go looking for clients,” Olivier Metzner, describing his fondness for difficult and unpopular causes.

It seems now a days that trying to find an honest lawyer who is here to actually help you with your problems is like trying to find a mythical unicorn in the park. Every time you turn the TV on, you will see dozens of adds for lawyers claiming to want to help you get what you deserve but when you call them and agree to be their client, you never see the lawyer again and have to deal with their flunkies who are under paid and can care less about your predicament. I recently had a friend who was a passenger in a car that was involved in a motor vehicle accident. He and the other occupants of the car that was hit, called Glen Lerner to represent them. They have never once met Mr. Lerner and have had to fight with his staff to represent them accordingly. His staff has a tendency to try and accept any offer that comes in for a settlement instead of fighting to get more money for their clients. It just seems that all they want to do is take their share of the settlement for as little work as possible, even if it means getting more out of the settlement than the actual victims. How fair is that? As long as they live in a big house on the hill, drive a fancy new car, have 3.5 children, a trophy wife/or husband, and a saving account to make a middle class person weep. They don't care about you; it's all about them.

"A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns."
Mario Puzo

WK 04 EOC: Death Race Jeopardy

Today in class we participated in "Death Race Jeopardy" to get ready for our midterms next week. The game was based on a power point design and used terms and definitions from our books. I thought the game was helpful and it made studying for the test in class a lot more exciting, instead of just another dull lecture on what we should know. Breaking up into teams and scrambling through the text book looking for answer made it exciting and competitive.