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Should I Submit Fabric Designs to Vida?
Dear Rich: I built my business on printing my designs on fabric and making stuff. Now there's a handy service (VIDA) that makes stuff with your uploaded design and sells it to others. That makes it...
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Can We Get Patent Rights Back From Our Employer?
Dear Rich: Almost two years ago I had an idea and with two other guys that I worked with. We developed a product completely outside of work (none of our jobs were in hardware design etc.). We took...
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Can Trader Joe's Stop My Book?
Dear Rich: I wrote an 84-page culinary history book proposing that Trader Joe's changed the way America eats. I self-published it recently (as it is their 50th anniversary this year.) The book analyzes...
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Can I Use Promo Photos from The Virginian?
Dear Rich: I was one of the co-stars in The Virginian TV series and a friend who is creating a Wiki page for me (about to publish my first novel) and asked if the publicity photos taken of me back in...
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Using Midi Music From a Video Game Cartridge
Dear Rich: I want to know if it is considered sampling when you record sound coming from a synthesizer that is playing electronic note data stored on a memory chip. Technically when you play an NES...
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Fail to Register Song - Lose Copyright?
Dear Rich: I read that the government is planning a song database and songwriters who don't register will lose all copyrights. Can you explain?The Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act...
View ArticleCan We Modify "Edelweiss" for Prison Retreat?
Dear Rich: My church group travels to prisons to conduct retreats for inmates. We'd like to use the song Edelweiss, but with different words. Would this be okay?Many music lovers believe that...
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Private Facts
Dear Rich: I'm thinking of doing a podcast where people share their personal stories of struggle and triumph, which in many cases might include private facts. In your podcasting course, you mention...
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Coach and Player Interview Release
Dear Rich: I am interviewing members of a high school team and their coaches for a book. I have a release agreement for players but not for the high school coach. How should I adapt the release?A...
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Mom Wants Tax Loss From Daughter's Recording
Many moms have encouraged their pop star daughters' successDear Rich: I'm a CPA and I can’t find much information on how a parent of a minor should structure a business with their child. My daughter is...
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Sony Complains About Bach Soundtrack Music
Dear Rich: I am an animation student working on a short film that uses Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suite 1 Prelude as a background audio track. The Bach music track is nine minutes long, edited down to...
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How Does Landlord Legally Remove Mural?
pre-historic Lescaux cave drawings Dear Rich: I own a building and the previous owner had commissioned an artist to paint a mural with maritime themes. The new tenant doesn't want to keep the mural. I...
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Whistleblower Wants to Blow Off NDA
Dear Rich: Does an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) prevent me from reporting illegal activity at work?A whistleblower -- an employee who has a reasonable belief that an employer is violating the law and...
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Can I Use Baseball Player's Image in Book on Batting?
Dear Rich: I'm writing an educational book teaching techniques on how to hit a baseball, using images of professional baseball players showing their swings. Are releases or consents required from each...
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Can I Trademark My Cat?
Dear Rich: Can I trademark my cat? I am writing a book about my cat's fictional adventures and using his name. The book contains drawings and photographs of him, too. It's possible to use trademark law...
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Can I Set Amelia Earhart's Words to Music?
Amelia Earhart, 1937Dear Rich: I'm inquiring about setting Amelia Earhart's words to music. She published three books between 1928 and 1937, and a poem (Courage, From an Airplane, To M_). She was...
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Is 1963-1964 Horror Film in the Public Domain?
Chrysler Avanti 1963-1964Dear Rich: I restore public domain films so I'm familiar with the rules but I'm having difficulty determining the copyright status of an horror exploitation film from the early...
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How to Donate Book Royalties
Dear Rich: How do I go about donating a portion of royalty proceeds from a book to a charity? If your publisher is amenable, the easiest method to donate royalties is to request that your publisher pay...
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News Aggregator Chased by Photographer
Dear Rich: I run a news aggregator that uses RSS feeds to pull in a headline, a small photo and a few lines of text. We pull content from maybe 2,000 sources. Visitors who want to read the full story...
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