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Gerald M. Levine, co-author In May 2015, the Authors Guild announced its Fair Contract Initiative, and more recently the Internatioanl Authors Forum presented “Ten Principles for Fair Contracts.” Both highlight the same ” standard” contract terms. These include length of license, fair royalties on e-books . . . . Continue reading Column from Publishers Weekly […]
Co-Author Gerald M. Levine Courts have recently been busy dealing with the puzzling concepts of derivative works, fair use, and transformation. “Transformation” is the underlying principle of derivative works created either by the author or licensees with the author’s permission; or created without the author’s permission legally under the fair use doctrine. There are two […]
Co-author Gerald M. Levine In May 2015 the Authors Guild announced its “Fair Contract Initiative.” So far it has addressed royalty rates on e-books (should be 50% of net receipts not 25% as it presently is), term of license (should be less than term of copyright which is the default term for print books), name […]
It is a general principle in UDRP jurisprudence (as it is under trademark law) that personal names are not registrable as trademarks, so it follows that a person has no right to a domain name corresponding to his or her name unless the name has acquired distinctiveness by being used in commerce and is recognized […]
It is out of the ordinary for respondents in UDRP proceedings to have registered trademarks; it is more so that parties should also be in the same business. It may be suspicious that the later to register was unaware of the earlier but domain name registrants are under no duty to search trademark databases to […]
Gerald M. Levine, Co-author Rights in Literary Property The United States Copyright Office and many people on social media, particularly on Twitter, have been celebrating the enactment of the first national copyright act in this country that President Washington signed into law on May 31, 1790. The 1790 Act was largely adopted from an earlier […]
Copyright law is the principal system for protecting authors’ creations. It confers rights without requiring any other action, but in order to fully benefit from the law authors and parties to whom copyrights have been assigned or sold have to record their copyrights with the Copyright Office. Recordation is the key to protection. Once that […]
The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) provides that “[a] person shall be liable in a civil action by an owner of a mark . . . if . . . the mark . . . is distinctive at the time of the registration of the domain name. . . .” This surely means that if […]
This article first appeared in Independent Publisher. Copyright law is the principal system for protecting authors’ creations. It confers rights without requiring any other action, but in order to fully benefit from the law authors and parties to whom copyrights have been assigned or sold have to record their copyrights with the Copyright Office. Recordation […]
Initially, in the far distant past, in the mid-1990s, domain names were seen primarily as addresses in cyberspace — much like telephone numbers or postal addresses to which they were analogized — rather than as assets of value in themselves. Realization that domain names were more than addresses came about quickly as one group of […]
The following article first appeared in Independent Publisher. The full text can also be read in full below. Co-Author Gerald M. Levine Copyright adheres to creative works when they are fixed in tangible mediums of expression for the first time. At the moment of fixation authors own and control their works in every respect, but […]
See Anthology of Commentaries — 2014 Except where complainant’s claim is truly egregious for which there can be said to be a “settled policy”––Happy as Clams, Inc., a California Corp., DBA Date Like a Grownup v. Heather Dugan, D2014-1655 (WIPO November 1, 2014)––there is no fixed standard for declaring reverse domain name hijacking. This is […]
Co-author Gerald M. Levine Characters as protectable assets do not survive copyright termination of the works in which they appear even though they may continue to live on in works that continue in copyright. All works published prior to January 1, 1923 are in the public domain, a vast repository of cultural wealth available for […]
Lapse of time versus a laches defense to cybersquatting claim in a udrp case is likely to benefit domain name holder unless the trademark is well-known or famous. While Panels are in accord that waiting too long to initiate a complaint makes it difficult to prove bad faith registration they are split on whether laches […]
Co-author, Gerald M. Levine Delay in suing for copyright infringement is not fatal to a claim for damages. Plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., decided on May 19, 2014, waited 18 years to bring suit. The majority held that laches cannot be invoked as a bar to […]
Proving a trademark right is essential to maintain a claim of cybersquatting. For registered trademarks, proof of standing is satisfied by submitting a copy of the registration certificate –which “is prima facie evidence of [the trademark’s] validity.” NetApp, Inc. v. July Linett c/o Jolly Co., FA0812001238829 (Nat. Arb. Forum February 5, 2009). There is no […]
Ordinarily, a complainant proves ownership of a trademark by displaying a certificate of registration from a national registrar; or, if unregistered by proving use in commerce for a qualified period of time. Having documentation and attaching it to the complaint is easier than having to prove a right which entails proving a reputation reaching back […]
Co-author, Gerald M. Levine New Internet subscription libraries are offering to “lend” digital books based on subscription models that brick and mortar lending libraries in England invented in the 19th Century. For $X dollars per time period subscribers gain access to vast collections of backlist and self-published books at less cost and with none of […]
A general view formed early in the UDRP jurisprudence is that for predictability decisions “should consist of more than, it depends what panel you draw’.” Time Inc. v. Chip Cooper, D2000-1342 (WIPO February 13, 2001) (<lifemagazine.com>). The goal for consistency is achieved through “a strong body of precedent” which “is strongly persuasive” even if not binding. […]
The question of protected speech is whether the protection is to the domain name or the contents of the website. There are two official “views” about critical speech. Both recognize (at least, generally) that use is “fair” if it is foretold or announced in the domain name and expressed in the content. Thus, “trademark+pejorative.com” that […]
