Today let’s
talk about intellectual property (IP) and why it’s important to your business. Wipo.int
describes intellectual property as creations of the
mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and
designs used in commerce. IP is divided into two categories: Industrial
property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs,
and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary
and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works,
artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and
architectural designs (Wipo.int, 2013).
For those who are thinking about starting a business may want to
consider your intellectual properties and how you may want to protect them from
being infringed upon. In order for someone to protect his or her IP’s for
business use will have to register for a trademark through The United States
Patent & Trademark office.
When dealing with copyrights, Trout wrote in Cyber Law: A Legal
Arsenal For Online Business, “once
an original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium, copyright
protection attaches. Although federal registration is not mandatory, federal
registration is required to file suit in the United States and may entitle the
author to recover attorney fees and statutory damages from an infringer”.
(Trout 62)
So when
you come up with a brand of some sort and you want to make sure no one tries to
make a profit or receive credit for your work, it’s best you send it off for
registration for protection. Here are a few examples of some lawsuits on
intellectual properties and their outcomes.
EASTLAND MUSIC GROUP LLC v. LIONSGATE ENTERTAINMENT INC LLC
Lexisnexis.com
states that The Eastland Music Group is the owner’s of rap duo Phifty-50 and
has registered “PHIFTY-50” as a trademark. It also claims “50/50” as a
trademark and contends that Lionsgate Entertainment infringed its rights by
using “50/50 in the title of one its motion pictures in 2011(lexisnexis.com, 2013).
Findlaw.com
states that it was determined that The Eastland Music Group could not sue for
infringement because the title of the movie doesn’t refer to the producers of a
rap album or group. This complaint fails at the
threshold: it does not allege that the use of “50/50” as a title has caused any
confusion about the film's source. According to law, titles to songs and movies
cannot be copyrighted. Only confusion about origin supports a trademark claim (Findlaw.com, 2013)
I have to agree with this judgment
because it makes sense. It’s so many songs and movies that utilize words for
titles but have different meanings in creation. I feel that you have to be more
original in your idea to have trademark protection.
ALREADY LLC V. NIKE
INC.
This case with
Already LLC versus Nike over the trademark infringement of Already’s brand
“YUMS” for making a shoe that was similar to the Nike’s Air Force 1. Nike ended
up dropping the suit because it’s trademark for the Air Force 1 was weak in my
opinion and different from what Already had registered as their trademark. With
Nike dropping the suit, Daniel Fisher wrote on Forbes.com that Nike provided a
“ covenant not to sue” a promise to leave them alone in the future (Forbes.com,
2013)
I don’t know,
maybe Nike dropped the suit because of fear they maybe exposed from
infringement of trademarks to other brands. That Air Force 1 trademark
registration drawing looks like other older brands of shoes if you ask me.
VIACOM V.
YOUTUBE.COM
Rob
Arcamona wrote on PBS.org that Viacom, the media conglomerate that owns a slew
of television networks as well as Paramount Pictures, sued Google, the owners
of YouTube, for direct and secondary copyright infringement (pbs.org, 2010).
The case
centered on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and within the law,
legislators created a way for website producers to escape copyright lawsuits,
called a "Safe Harbor" provision. In order to invoke the Safe Harbor,
the court ruled, YouTube must remove any material violating copyright laws once
it has "specific knowledge" of particular copyrighted videos that the
site is helping to distribute. Judge Stanton concluded that it was against the
DMCA's purpose to hold YouTube legally liable for every video uploaded on the
website -- some 20 hours of video every minute -- even if they might have had a
general idea that the site was being used to violate copyright laws (pbs.org,
2010).
If you
ask me, this one here is tricky. I can understand both sides of view. Viacom
has a point and a right to protect their interest. Does YouTube have the right
to distribute copyrighted property just because they are overwhelmed with activities?
Is it fair that they can just say they didn’t know when really they did? We are
going to have to figure something else out on that one. What do you think? Real
Talk!
References:
Arcamona, Rob. "MediaShift . What
the Viacom vs. YouTube Verdict Means for Copyright Law | PBS." PBS:
Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/07/what-the-viacom-vs-youtube-verdict-means-for-copyright-law183.html>.
"EASTLAND MUSIC GROUP LLC v.
LIONSGATE ENTERTAINMENT INC LLC LLC, No. 12–2928., February 21, 2013 - US 7th
Circuit | FindLaw." Caselaw: Cases and Codes - FindLaw Caselaw.
N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
<http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1623861.html>.
http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?oc=00240&hl=t&hns=t&hnsd=f&perma=true&lni=57FY-V131-F04K-F4MF&hv=t&csi=6443&hgn=t&secondRedirectIndicator=true
133 S.
Ct. 721, *184 L. Ed. 2d 553, **2013 U.S. LEXIS 602, ***105 U.S.P.Q.2D (BNA)
1169
http://www.lexisnexis.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/hottopics/lnacademic/ 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3621, *
"Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit
Over Nike Trademarks - Forbes." Information for the World's Business
Leaders - Forbes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/01/09/supreme-court-rejects-lawsuit-over-nike-trademarks/>.
Trout,
Brett J.. Cyber Law: A Legal Arsenal for Online Business. MBS Direct,
2007. <vbk:MBS983926#page(62)>.
"What is Intellectual
Property?." WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/>.
Image References:
www.findlogo.net
