Marc Is Now Of Counsel to Stein IP!

I am excited and pleased to announce that I have become Of Counsel to Stein IP! You can see me at: https://steinip.com/professionals/marcwhipple/

I will be providing the same experience & quality legal services my clients have come to expect, but now with a fantastic firm filled with talented lawyers in support!

A lot of my clients follow me online and this may be their first notice of this transition. I will be sending out a letter explaining the impact of this on their matters, but the summary is: You will not experience any changes in services or billing.

For current clients, the only impact is that I now have access to even more expertise and resources to support you. Prospective clients, the future is looking brighter than ever!

I’d like to thank Michael Stein, Victoria Kirsinas and all at Stein IP for a warm welcome. I look forward to working with you!

Gambling In Illinois: Now We Know (also, Lootboxes!)

You may recall this post from a few years back about fantasy sports in Illinois:

A Diversion: Fantasy Sports Betting and the Law

In that post, I talked about why I though Fantasy Sports betting was illegal gambling under the law of the state of Illinois, and pointed out that the Illinois Attorney General’s office agreed with me.

Well, scratch that.

Continue reading Gambling In Illinois: Now We Know (also, Lootboxes!)

Commissioned Art: Copyright Threat, or Copyright Menace?

Standard Disclaimer: I am an attorney, but I am probably not your attorney. Nothing in this post is legal advice and nothing in it should be applied to the facts of any real-world dispute. Copyright law is heavily fact-dependent. Consult an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction and familiar with the relevant law before making legal decisions.

I am in the market for some artwork to use on the cover of a book I wrote. Being a good Internet citizen and neighbor, I have been trying to find an artist who is a member of one or more of the communities I am part of, or at least adjacent to (shut up, @boozybadger) on the Internet to provide said art, in exchange for which I propose to provide cold hard cash, or at least the digital equivalent thereof. I have done this before: for instance, the logo I use for my law firm, I commissioned from a student who makes logos to earn money for school. Cool, huh?

Legal Inspiration Logo!

However, this is not a request for quotes on artwork, this is a post about the legal questions related to commissioning artwork. Mostly, the copyright question. And it’s a doozy.

Continue reading Commissioned Art: Copyright Threat, or Copyright Menace?