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Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

~ Trademark and Copyright Law Updates in Indiana

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

Category Archives: Just for Fun

Happy Pi Day!

14 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Just for Fun

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3/14…it’s International Pi Day!  As you know, Pi or π is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius.  Today is the day that we celebrate this most irrational and transcendental number.

Fun Pi facts:
140px-pi-symbol
– There is no zero in the first 31 digits of pi.

– The Egyptians and the Babylonians are the first cultures that discovered  about 4,000 years ago.

– The pi memory champion is Hiroyoki Gotu, who memorized an amazing 42,000 digits.

– William Jones, a self-taught English mathematician born in Wales, is the one who selected the Greek letter  for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter in 1706.

Also…Happy 132nd birthday Albert Einstein!

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

Online Writing Resources for Authors

07 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Authors, Just for Fun, What I'm Reading

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At the request of a client, I’m compiling a list of some helpful online writing resources. Here’s the start of the list:

  1. Writer’s Digest – the No. 1 magazine for writers, celebrating the writing life and what it means to be a writer in today’s publishing environment.
  2. American Society of Journalists and Authors – the nation’s leading organization of independent nonfiction writers.
  3. The Author’s Guild – the nation’s leading advocate for writers’ interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression since it was founded as the Authors League of America in 1912.
  4. National Writers Union – the union for freelance writers working in US markets.
  5. Poets and Writers, Inc. – the primary source of information, support, and guidance for creative writers, and the publisher of Poets & Writers Magazine.

What are your favorite online writing resources that I should add to the list?

DJ Performance Agreements

06 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Artists, Business Law, Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property, Just for Fun, Musicians

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A good DJ will impart a sense of feeling, rythym and happiness on a party.

In order to ensure that their own business also runs as smooth and happily as the dance floor, DJs providing services for venues should use a performance agreement in securing a set and, importantly, the payment. Here are some key questions to consider for your DJ performance agreement:

  1. Have you made sure the venue can understand the provisions of the contract?
  2. Have you communicated to the venue the minimum deposit needed to bind the terms of the agreement?
  3. Have you communicated to the venue that they are obligated to pay you if the set is cancelled on the performance date?
  4. Have you discussed the conditions that release both parties from the agreement?
  5. Have you communicated to the purchaser regarding terms of your deposit and the remaining balance?
  6. Have you discussed with the venue about advertising control of your show?

Go back and review your performance agreement with the above questions in mind. If you’re uncertain, contact an entertainment attorney for a professional review of your agreement.

Planning Your Digital Estate

04 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Estate Law, Family Law, Just for Fun, Privacy, Tech Developments

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Facebook, Google, Twitter

I’ve written previously on the importance of planning beyond one’s own death.  Simple planning now can prevent unnecessary headaches after you’ve passed. This is typically accomplished by preparing a will and/or obtaining life insurance.  But with the Internet and cloud computing increasingly dominating our daily lives, more adults are taking their lives online, often through social networking, online gaming, or blogging.  Consumers shop, pay bills, and bank online. Important accounts, documents, files and photos are now often managed exclusively online, almost always behind usernames and passwords.

Do you know what would happen to your blog if you die? What happens to the passwords and content of your multiple email accounts? Who, if anyone, would you want to control your Twitter, Facebook or World of Warcraft account?  Think about these questions now and speak to an attorney who can help you plan your digital estate.

Here are a few general guidelines:

Email Accounts
As a general rule, you own your email and electronic correspondence and you can leave this to whomever you choose in your will. However, if your family or executors don’t know your email passwords, they may have trouble retrieving it. Gmail will give access to email contents upon proof of death and proof of relationship.

Facebook and Social Networking Accounts
Facebook and other social networking accounts are slightly different than email accounts as the information on your profile isn’t as private as your emails – your profile is accessible and viewable by anyone whom you’ve granted access. Your profile also appears as a friend of countless others, and will continue to appear until the account is either closed or your friends delete you.

Facebook allows for the “memorialization” of accounts, where the accounts remain open as a tribute. There’s even a form you can use to report a user who has died. However, Facebook won’t release login information, so the account can’t be accessed, changed or updated.

Blogs and Online Content
An additional consideration for managing your digital estate arises for those of us who run blogs. Much like social networking and email accounts, online service providers such as WordPress are reluctant to release login details, even to an executor. If your blog is hosted on your own server or through a third-party hosting service, the task of accessing the site is further complicated and in some cases may be close to impossible.

If you’ve got a blog, you’ve also got intellectual property including copyright to your writings and any trademarks associated with your site. You may also have photographs, music, and other works that are published and maintained online. Copyright generally lasts for 70 years after the death of the author, so there’s a significant tail period of copyright protection that vests in your estate and, just like any other form of property, intellectual property can be bequeathed to a specific individual in your will. If the will does not specify who gets your intellectual property, the standard rules of distribution apply.

Online Worlds
Users spend a great deal time of time creating and managing identities in online worlds like World of Warcraft or Destiny.  But what will happen to these accounts upon your death?  World of Warcraft will transfer ownership of an account to an immediate family member upon proof of death, and the community has even been known to host virtual funerals.

wowdeath

As with other estate planning stories, the moral is to plan ahead.  Here are your action items for planning the disposition of your digital information upon your death:

  1. Select a “digital” executor, someone who you trust to carry out your wishes with respect to your online information
  2. Tell your executor what you want done and give him or her the information needed to carry out your wishes.
  3. Prepare a list of your email and social networking accounts along with your login data and brief details on how to access the accounts.
  4. Update your will to include specific provisions for who will take ownership of your intellectual property and any data that you leave behind.

USPTO gets a new website!

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Federal Initiatives, Intellectual Property, Just for Fun, Patent, Trademark

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USPTO

The USPTO has a slick new website. Screenshots below. Check it out now at www.uspto.gov

The business side? Same as before.

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