Category: Law for Creatives

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?

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.

Help, I Got A Legal Thing!

I did an interactive livestream expanding on the “Help, I Got A Legal Thing!” page on my site. (This page: https://legalinspiration.com/?page_id=157.) If you’d like to check it out, click “Read The Rest!“

“Shaky Ground” – Legal Residence Requirements and the New USPTO Rules

Following up on the earlier article about the new trademark registration requirements related to US residency, I’m quoted at length in this article on World Trademark Review.

I hope my remarks don’t downplay the possibility of problems. In particular I hope it’s clear that I believe that individual applicants could experience improper actions during examination including inappropriate inquiry into immigration status and the publication of information which should not be (and has no legal basis to be) made public. As the other attorneys point out, we need to make sure people are safe. That’s priority one.

All I meant by my comment on statistics is that it will become clear if there is a systemic issue in reasonably short order, which would mean the guidelines themselves are a problem, as opposed to individual application by Examining Attorneys. Anyway, here’s the article:

worldtrademarkreview.com/brand-management/shaky-legal-ground-unintended-consequences-uspto-requests-proof-legal

“Own The Rights:” Say What Now?

“We need to own the rights.”

That phrase gets thrown around a LOT in the creative industries. And it gets misused quite a bit of the time. What does it mean to “own” rights? What is it worth? Why is it necessary?

A personal story:

I used to be a photographer. I was pretty good, too. One day a friend of mine tells me his daughter’s boyfriend is managing a model, and she needs some portfolio pics, and could I do it? I said, “Sure.” So I go and take some pictures and everybody’s happy. Then Daughter’s Boyfriend calls me and says, “Hey, I manage a new band, they needs some album and promo pics, can you help me out?

I said, “Sure. What are you looking for, and what are you looking to spend?”

He says, “Well, I figured I’d pay you $200.00 and you’d just give me the film.”

Not pointing out that I shoot digital, I politely respond, “Yes, but what rights do you need?”

“Well I figured we’d own the pics and just pay you for your time.”

Fortunately, I know my friend doesn’t actually like Daughter’s Boyfriend, so I don’t have to be nice to him

Who Owns What? Presentation on Copyright Ownership at MCSC!

I was invited by the McHenry County Software Craftsmanship group to speak about copyright ownership, since questions of authorship, work-for-hire, and related topics are of interest to many programmers. I spoke for 45 minutes, asked for questions… and spoke for another 45 minutes! They were very gracious hosts and the members had wonderful questions. Very much enjoyed it.

A link to the group – and the event – is here:
https://www.meetup.com/Software-Craftsmanship-McHenry-County/events/fvvtxnyzgbvb/ .

The presentation materials, as promised, can be downloaded from this link on the off chance anybody wants them:

MCSC_Presentation_2019 Download