Rule of Law

Phillip A. Kantor and Steven Caloiaro in the Rule of Law were to my opinion correct. They were able to answer my questions easily and  with authority. For my first question about an animated “short” and how it would be protected, they advised me the idea itself was not protected saying that “Ideas are as free as the air we breathe”. Rather what is protected is the expression of that idea that is protected by copyright law. Phillip used the example of the Story of Romeo and Juliet, saying that the idea is world know and that the individual expression is the part that is protected.  Steven’s point was that Copyright protection subsists in original, works of authorship, fixed in any tangible medium. And that the protection and the copyright would be created when the work was finished. “In short, practically any type of expression that can be fixed in a tangible medium of expression is eligible for copyright protection, assuming it is original and has a least some creativity. It is important to understand, however, that copyright law protects only the expression itself---not the underlying facts, ideas, or concepts.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 234 . I followed by asking about work-for-hire.  Phillip described that for me the terms would be laid out in the contract and that each one would be different from studio to studio.  As well that a typical work-for-hire contract is one that you work inside the studio and they supply you with all the things you need to complete the project. Then any product produced belongs to the company, but if you are contracted meaning that you work from your own studio and use your own supplies then anything else created will belong to the author/artist.  Steven wrote that the circumstances in which a work is considered a “work made for hire” is determined by the ‘United States Act of 1976’.  “Copyright of a work made for hire belongs either to the party who commissioned it or the party who employed the creator, not the party who created it.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 340. Then I asked, what should my first move be to protect my works.  They seemed to have a conscious on this that as soon as the work is in a tangible medium (written in hand or on a computer). Then you apply for the copyright by downloading the forms, just Thirty_five dollars online to process the forms. After the work is completed you will receive the copyright. “To register a work with the U.S. Copyright Office, the author must deposit the best edition of the work with the application.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 217.  I followed by asking about working under an alias or pseudonym (fictitious name).  Phillip had advised that when you file for the copyright you fill out the form with your original name so that the copyright is in your name and then you tell them that you will be printing in under an alias name and let them know what that name is as well.  “Copyright law protects an author ow publishes a work under a pseudonym almost as well as they do an author who uses his or her real name. . . 95 years for a pseudonymous work, instead of the author’s life plus 70 years for an author-identified work.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 318. For my question about how blog contents could be protected, Phillip first advised me that it would have to original.  And that even if some of the text and images were not of your own creation that the arrangement of them on the blog would be protected as well as any of your own original text. “Any public work of authorship that is not protected under copyright law is said to fall with in the public domain, This means that anyone can use the work without obtaining permission from the author or the author’s heirs.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 319. I had then asked what step should I take if I believed my intellectual property was being infringed. Phillip told me that I should consult with counsel to see what I actually owned and was public domain or even what belonged to someone else property altogether. Then he would counsel from there. He had also informed me that there was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for works that were strictly on the web.  “This federal statute address a number of copyright issues created by the use of the Internet.  Among other things, it outlaws attempts to get around processes, methods, or devices that limit copying of copyrighted works. ” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 251.  I had then asked about working with other people and if the group broke up into two how would our intellectual property be protected.  Phillip reminded me once again that it was the expression that was protected not the idea and following with that some judges believe the ‘the idea and the expression are so intertwined that they can not be separated’ depending on the work at hand. And that if it was bought to court that they would look at the ‘access’ meaning that they would look at the relationship between the two parties. Steven said that this is when a Non-Disclosure Agreement or a Non-Compete Clause would come into play, providing that you signed one.  “A nondisclosure agreement is a legally binding contract in which a person or business promises t treat specific information as a trade secret and not to disclose the information  to others without roper authorization. . . Is often interchangeably with “confidentiality agreement”.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 550.  I followed by asking about producing a ‘Short’ and how to protect my intellectual property or for better understanding my expression. Phillip told me to see counsel and find out what was the story about and finding that if it was an original work, this way I knew what would be protected and what was mine. He then had said to go to www.trustafi.com which is a third party entity that houses a digital copy of my work for a minor fee of course and they will also provide and time stamp show the date of which I saved my work. He then said finally I should register for the copyright by filling out the forms and paying the thirty-five dollar fee. So I followed up with a similar question about having produced a short animated film and was going to send it to a film festival what should I do to protect it, but after hearing the answer to my previous questions I had already known the answer. He laughed and said yes to follow the same steps as previously stated and that not doing that was just being plain lazy. Steven’s answer added to that saying that the copyright will not prevent the theft, but allow you a legal remedy.  “Authorship embodies a certain minimum level of creativity and originality. But as long as a particular expression has been independently arrived at, it need not be original is the sense of “new”.” Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Attorney Richard Stim, page 302.