THE PLUS IP FIRM
We are board-certified intellectual property attorneys, inventors, and engineers that help small-size inventors, entrepreneurs, and businesses register and protect patents, copyrights, and trademarks so you can profit from them faster.
Call Now: 786.443.7720
Written by: Mark Terry In light of all of the news about patent reform legislation and the backlash against Non-Practicing Entities (NPE) [you know … patent trolls], did you know that large corporations like Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Intel, and Google invest or have invested in patent funds? Why do they do it? Has it helped fuel infringement lawsuits? We explore these issues here. Intellectual Ventures (IV) has opened funds to investors since 2000 and is currently courting investors to invest in its planned $3 billion fund for investing in patents. Microsoft and Sony have subscribed, but Intel and Apple
Written by: Mark Terry “I just received a copyright takedown notice. What do I do?” As a Board-Certified Specialist in Intellectual Property Law, this is a common question I hear– at least several times a month. Usually, the item in dispute is a document or photo that is being used on a client’s website. And usually, the copyright takedown notice includes a scary letter that threatens to sue for copyright infringement and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It ca instill fear in your typical law-abiding citizen who has never been involved in a lawsuit. Don’t panic – this is what you
Written by: Mark Terry Southern District Court Judge K. Michael Moore recently handed down an equitable and somewhat unique decision regarding a timely dispute over the rights to a Spanish-language version of a Coca-Cola theme song that was created for the 2010 World Cup. At issue in the suit, Vergara Hermosilla v. Coca-Cola Co., No. 10-21418, 2010 WL 2232657 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2010), was whether the South-Florida based artist retained rights to the content of his work product “Wavin’ Flag” – originally performed in English by the artist K’naan – in translating and producing the song. As a Miami-based trademark and
Written by Mark Terry In 2008, photographer Mike Hipple took a photo of a famous sculpture by Jack Mackie in Seattle. The photo at issue was sold to a stock photo company subsequently used in its for-pay catalog. As a Miami Copyright Attorney, this case interests me because it brings up subtle copyright issues. This not an issue of direct copyright infringement. The copyright in the sculpture is directed to a 3D work of art. The photographer did not make a 3D copy of the sculpture. Instead, the photographer made a 2D derivative work of the sculpture. Thus, if there
Written by Mark Terry Can you protect architectural drawings and constructed buildings using copyrights? As a Miami Copyright Attorney with an active copyright docket, this is a question I’ve been asked more than once. Generally the answer is yes. An original design of a building created in any tangible medium of expression, including a constructed building or architectural plans, models, or drawings, is subject to copyright protection as an “architectural work” under 17 U.S.C. §102 of the Copyright Act. Protection extends to the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design but does not include
THE PLUS IP FIRM
We are board-certified intellectual property attorneys, inventors, and engineers that help small-size inventors, entrepreneurs, and businesses register and protect patents, copyrights, and trademarks so you can profit from them faster.
Call Now: 786.443.7720