Protect yourself. It's cold outside.

It has been a busy, busy two weeks here. Yes, the Yankees won the World Series, defeating my Phillies 4 games to 2. I also did go to Game Four with my father and my sister. Family baseball fun in. . . November. We all wore lots of layers of clothing.

It was cold and chilly with the wind whipping around the upper tiers of Citizens Bank Park. (I drove to Philadelphia for the weekend.) It was a wonderful game, with Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz hitting a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 8th inning. In the top of the 9th inning, Phillies' pitcher Brad Lidge had the game in hand, had two outs, had two strikes to Johnny Damon, who was able to get on base. Then he stole second. Then he stole third on the exact same play.

It was disheartening, but I went to a World Series game and I went with family and had a lot of fun. It was cold and you had to protect your skin with lots of layers of clothes.

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Speaking of protecting yourself, many clients ask me about filing copyrights. I do file copyrights. Remember, when a work falls under copyright law, the creator of the work has a copyright in the work. No lawsuit can be filed without registering the copyright in the work, however. Also remember that damages that can be recovered go down when the copyright is not filed before infringement happens.

As for the filing copyrights, there are two mistakes that many people and businesses make when filing the copyrights themselves:

1. Filing separate works as collections.
2. Not understanding who the copyright owner is.

The main issue I find in copyright registrations is that a lot of people file many different works in one copyright registration. This is most common in the photography industry, where it is easy to collect photographs.

The problem? When a copyright represents many different works, then the copyright really represents a collection. Infringement upon a collection is weaker than infringement upon an entire work. So, make sure that you file each work (no matter what medium the work is on - be it canvas, film, or digital).

Another problem is understanding who the copyright owner is. The creator of a work that falls under copyright law is the copyright owner. The only exception to this is when a work-for-hire agreement is made and signed (it MUST be a written agreement). Make sure that the correct owner is listed in the registration (and make sure that the creator is listed, too, but just as a creator).

Copyright questions? Call us at 212-201-5473 or send an e-mail to law@nyctrademarks.com for more information

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I have not been making a big deal of the Shepard Fairey copyright case or the revelations that Fairey himself has changed his story on the witness stand. But his lawyers are still on the case. Permit me to yawn. Ultimately, this case will turn on the work - not testimony from people. Whether or not the original Associated Press photograph was the inspiration for the "Hope" poster that Fairey made is not the issue - the issue is whether the poster is transformative enough.

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Google is still fighting to claim the ANDROID trademark.

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Yahoo settles a lawsuit that Mary Kay filed for allowing unauthorized Mary Kay resellers to advertise on Yahoo.

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Lil' Wayne is sued for copyright infringement. This sounds like it has been said before.


Copyright law questions? Trademark law questions? Call 212-201-5473 to speak to Anthony Verna or send e-mail to law@nyctrademarks.com for more information.

You must follow the system.

Good day, everyone!

I was in Los Angeles last week for a seminar, and as soon as I returned to Newark, NJ, the cold weather hit me.

(Though I was staying in Santa Monica, where it is colder because of the ocean.)

Last night was fun, as my Phillies played - and won - in the first game of the National League Championship Series. Today's game is a 4 PM Eastern start, so it looks like baseball fans have to cut the work day short to watch the early game. That's the conundrum for baseball - the 8 PM playoff games end late, but the early games do start early. So, what is baseball to do? It, so far, has been putting the Yankees-Angels game late - New York and L.A. - as it knows the Yankees get ratings. But it still inconveniences a lot of people who are fans of the Phillies and Dodgers (especially a 1 PM Pacific start on a weekday).

Lots of my clients have conundrums, too.

• What do I do when my trademark is registered?
• Do I need to continue with the trademark opposition proceeding that has been filed against me?
• Do I need to register? (You already know my thoughts on this from being loyal readers.)

It's here where I'd like to introduce a few new items:
1) The Intellectual Property Security System. There are four simple steps to the system - Review, Search, Register and Monitor. I can lead you through all these steps to help you and your company protect its intellectual property better. Call me at 212-736-0007 x4 and ask me about the Intellectual Property Security System.

2) A part of the system is our Intellectual Property Self Review kit. It's a fantastic kit that is developed for companies to help re-focus and understand their intellectual property. Companies, with the review kit, will be able to clearly understand what intellectual property they have and the importance to register each piece of intellectual property. This is a kit with a $600 value - it is what we sell it for - but because you are all loyal readers of the blog and newsletter, I am willing to give it to you at no charge. Just let me know that you read the blog or newsletter. Call me at 212-736-0007 x4 and ask me about your free copy of the Intellectual Property Self Review Kit. We'll mail it out to you.

*****

Do not forget to become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anthonyvernalaw

Do not forget to follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/avernalaw

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Recently, a judge in New Jersey ruled for a company in a trademark infringement lawsuit and awarded $570,000. What that tells me is that there is an importance for the last step in the Intellectual Property Security System - Monitoring. Many companies believe that it is acceptable to register the IP and go on with life. In fact, that is only a part of the solution.

Intellectual Property owners must monitor their marks in order to see how it is being used in our large, complex modern world. Is it on the Internet? Is someone speaking poorly of those marks? Is someone co-opting your mark? If you are not monitoring your trademarks, you do not know and you miss out on the ability to enforce the rights you are given by registering your mark that is in use.

*****

In the Republic of Ireland, the Church of Scientology lost a trademark battle to a company called Prosperity Recruitment, which is an advertising recruitment agency.

I find it funny because of one of the quotations: Prosperity Director, Gary Mullan said: “It is amusing that an Irish recruitment company’s services could be considered to be a close match to the goods and ’services’ described by the Scientologists”.