Trademarks
and Copyrights
The
Internet is a terrific place to find abuse of trademarks and copyrights.
Here are some articles and sites that can guide you through the minefield
Are
you a copyright criminal?
3M Meeting Network
This is a very good overview
of copyright law. It's written from the perspective of a trainer
or seminar leader, but the basic legal issues are still the same.
Before you use that image from a Web site, or that CD when you're doing
a training class, beware. The copyright police might be watching.
10
Big Myths about copyright explained
Brad Templeton
This is an excellent recap
of the most common questions and myths regarding copyright issues.
This should be your first stop when you're starting to wonder about yours
or someone else's copyright. The author isn't a lawyer, but has been
in publishing for a long time and knows his stuff.
The
Basics of U.S. Copyright Law
Gigalaw.com
Being familiar with the
basics of copyright law is kind of important for most people involved in
ebusiness. So go right to the horse's mouth, so to speak, and read
what the US Copyright Office has to say. You can start with the first
link on the list and work your way through the entire article.
Patent,
Copyright & Trademark
nolo.com
Basic and advanced information
on these topics should answer most of your questions regarding these tricky
areas. Most people get it wrong when it comes to copyrights and trademarks
- this article should be helpful.
Judge
OKs deep hyperlinking
USA Today
One of the things we do
here at The Gadwall Group is something called "deep-linking". The
link for this article bypasses the main page for USA Today and takes you
right to the article. A judge affirmed that deep-linking is OK, as
long as you make it clear that you are not the originator of the content.
This is big news because deep-linking is a fact of life on the Internet,
and it's always nice to know you're legal.
Using
Your Trademark
Susan Butler, ZDNet Small
Business
This article details a recent
legal case involving trademarks. It's only peripherally involved
with computers and the Internet, but is a good explanation of the value
of registering your trademark, prior use, tacking, and junior use.
It also discusses what is a valid trademark, what can cause conflicts,
etc. If you've got questions about trademarks, this article can be
very illuminating. It also includes a link to the US Patent and Trademark
Office. One key point - if you're just starting out, and you're using
your trademark in internal documents and emails, that's not enough.
You've got to do sufficient external promotion so that it's reasonable
to have the public identify your trademark with your company.
Legal
traps on the Web
Inc. Magazine, October,
1999
Highlights some of the problems
you can run into on the web from using other companies' trademarks in your
meta tags, deep linking, and the value of getting trademarks and copyrights
registered. Not a tremendous amount of meat in this article, but
useful in your research.
Do
You Copy?
Entrepreneur Magazine
This article goes into the
basics of copyright law, discussing how it works, time-frames, what qualifies,
how to register and the need for registration. A good primer.
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