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Wants to Write Sequel to It's a Wonderful Life
Dear Rich: My question is that I would like to write a sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life” in novel/e-book format. I have been trying to determine whether the original film’s characters and storyline, or...
View ArticleWants to Make Money From "Let's Play" Videos
Dear Rich: Many YouTube accounts are posting what is known as "Let's Plays." Through use of a screen capturing program, the video's creator records a segment of gameplay and during game play talks...
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Wants to File Multiple Inventions in a Single Provisional Patent Application
Dear Rich: After reading Nolo patent books I have arrived at the following conclusions: I can submit multiple independent inventions (each meeting Sec. 112 requirements) in a single PPA (using any...
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Wants to Use Police Photo of "Grateful Doe"
Dear Rich: I want to use images that appear on the Virginia State Police Missing Person's webpage for a 1995 unidentified person's case in which a young hitchhiker was killed in an automobile accident...
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Wants to Register a Trademark for eBooks
Dear Rich: I am writing a series of travel eBooks that will be published for use on Amazon's Kindle. All of the book titles share a common phrase. I also have website and the domain name is the same...
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Wants to Curate and Re-Post Content
We would like to curate, gather and re-post content from other publishers or creators -- sort of like Buzzfeed, Tumblr and Pinterest. These sites seem to walk a thin line between curating and...
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Beyond Watermarks: How Else to Protect?
Dear Rich: Other than watermarks is there any way for a creator to protect their work online? Digital watermarking -- the embedding of a signal that is only perceptible under certain conditions --...
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Blog Gets Copied: Plagiarism v. Infringement
Dear Rich: A blog post of mine was republished almost word for word on another site. The publisher at the other side attributed it through an "acknowledgement" and a link. Is that enough? What...
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British Museum Copyright Stamp (Seal)
Dear Rich: I was wondering if you could give me some information about a stamp. I have attached a picture of it. It is from a book in the British Museum. I'm trying to figure out what the number 20 on...
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Wants to Use Sled Dog Photo
Dear Rich: Because the Sled Dog Action Coalition and its website are educational, noncommercial entities, under the doctrine of "fair use," I think I should be able to put the Anchorage Daily News...
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Using NFL Team Names on Caps
Ladies military style NFL capDear Rich: I am creating some caps and I am using my own letters and creating words like Cowboys, Eagles, Texans, and Aggies without their logos or letters is this legal?...
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Best Way To Protect Doll House Design?
Dear Rich: I just read an old entry of yours about design patents and doll houses. So just to be clear, if one designs a doll house, doll, doll etc., they are to get a design patent, yes? Must they get...
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Using Photoshop to Eliminate Trademark Issues
Dear Rich: We are a small for-profit business involved in counseling and psychotherapy. This is an original photo but contains a trademark in the background (Rolex). We want to use it in our social...
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Free Assignment of Copyright
Dear Rich: I am in the process of having someone illustrate a book that I wrote, and am looking to put in place an assignment of IP rights. Where can I find an assignment agreement? Here's an example...
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Making GIFs from Book Covers
Dear Rich: I am taking covers from books I have purchased (first use), scanning them into Photoshop, then creating animated GIFs to show how they may be portrayed in the future. The animation will...
View ArticleWants to Use 50-Year Old European Recordings
Dear Rich: I'm thinking of starting a a business that re-packages recordings on memory sticks. I'm in San Francisco and I have a partner in London. In England, recordings that are over 50 years old are...
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Wants to Post Debt Collector Voicemail
Dear Rich: I'm a blogger and want to post a voicemail that a debt collector left on my answering machine. Can I get in trouble for posting that? Maybe, but we think it's unlikely.Consent to recording....
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Wants to Use Beautiful South Songs in Play
Dear Rich: I am a teacher at a secondary school and I want to write a play where I would charge a fixed price for tickets to the general public as well as the families of the children at the school. I...
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Is it Illegal to Use BitTorrent?
Dear Rich: Our college has rules regarding the use of the WiFi network and one of them is that we cannot participate in file-sharing and P2P networks, and specifically we can't use the college WiFi for...
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What Trademark Class for Therapy Doll?
Dear Rich: Under which trademark class would a doll used for therapy (psychological) and available for any consumer to buy online, fall? The USPTO categorizes dolls used for therapy purposes in the...
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