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Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

~ Trademark and Copyright Law Updates in Indiana

Indiana Intellectual Property Blog

Category Archives: What I'm Reading

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?

Superhero Law Debated on New Blog

21 Tuesday Dec 2010

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Bloggers, Copyright, Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property, Just for Fun, Trademark, What I'm Reading

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Tags

Superhero

There’s a fun new blog, Law and the Multiverse, that applies real world law to comic book scenarios. In their words:

If there’s one thing comic book nerds like doing it’s over-thinking the smallest details.  Here we turn our attention to the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers.  Just a few examples: Are mutants a protected class?  Who foots the bill when a hero damages property while fighting a villain?  What happens legally when a character comes back from the dead?

The blog touches on many different areas of law, including intellectual property. Here is an excerpt:

In the real world comic book characters and their likenesses have been made into toys, video games, movies, television shows, lunchboxes, bed sheets, and innumerable other things. All of these secondary uses are mediated through intellectual property rights, particularly copyright and trademark rights. But if Superman were a real person, how might the situation be different? Could just anyone slap his image or iconic S shield on a lunchbox? What about uses that suggest that Superman endorses a product or service? (“Try Metropolis Brewery Beer, the choice of the Man of Steel!”) Or worse, what about revealing a superhero’s secret identity?

Their latest post explores a favorite topic of the Indiana Intellectual Property Blog, privacy rights:

From a superhero’s point of view, the main issues here are intrusion into his or her secret identity and secret headquarters, if applicable.  The latter case is squarely within the scope of the tort (physical intrusion into a home or office is a classic example of the tort), so let’s focus on the issue of secret identity.  In particular, does a superhero’s secret identity fall under the scope of the second element?  And when we say “reasonable person” do we mean a reasonable regular person or a reasonable superhero, or does it matter?

The answer to the first question is probably yes.  Courts have held that the right to privacy includes psychological & emotional solitude and the intrusion can occur in a public place.  See, e.g., Phillips v. Smalley Maintenance Svcs, Inc., 435 So.2d 705, 711 (Ala. 1983) (holding “one’s emotional sanctum is certainly due the same expectations of privacy as one’s physical environment.” and “the ‘wrongful intrusion’ privacy violation can occur in a public place, when the matter intruded upon is of a sufficiently personal nature”).  As the definition states, the intrusion need not be directly physical and can include demands and threats.  Phillips, 435 So.2d at 711.

For the full post and to explore other areas of law, visit Law and the Multiverse.  One of the blog authors is a recent grad of Notre Dame Law School.  I’m looking forward to reading the future posts on copyright and trademark.

Protecting your Website’s “Look and Feel”

15 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Bloggers, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Social Media, Tech Developments, Trademark, What I'm Reading

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There’s a nice analysis in the New York Law Journal about intellectual property protection of the “look and feel” of a website:

Protectable trade dress under the Lanham Act can include a wide range of product design and packaging features: the color and shape of pill capsules; the look of a greeting card line; the layout of magazine covers and briefcases; commercial kiosk designs; sales techniques; the distinctive decor of a restaurant; and the colorful, tropical depictions on liquor bottles. Separate from a trademark, trade dress involves the total image of a product and the overall impression created that allows consumers to distinguish among competing producers.

In recent years, a growing debate has emerged over whether the overall “look and feel” of a website can be protected. To be sure, online content, videos, and other media are copyrightable, but the law remains unsettled when it comes to using trademark law to protect a site’s distinctive interface and design elements.

This article discusses trade dress generally, the issue of copyright preemption, and recent decisions that have wrestled with the issue of website trade dress infringement.

Click here for the article.

Honoring an author. Attorneys among those preserving Vonnegut’s memory.

28 Monday Dec 2009

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Artists, Authors, Indiana, Indianapolis, Intellectual Property, Just for Fun, KLF Legal, Nonprofit, What I'm Reading

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This blog author was featured recently in an Indiana Lawyer article about an organization I’m involved with, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library.

The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Foundation is a public benefit, nonprofit organization championing the literary, artistic, and cultural contributions of the late writer, artist and Indiana native Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The Library Foundation is creating a library that will also serve as a cultural and educational resource center, functioning as a museum, art gallery, and reading room for readers, writers, and students. In addition, the library will support language and visual arts education for the local community.

Click here for full story by Rebecca Berfanger, Indiana Lawyer.

What I’m Reading – The World Is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education

25 Tuesday Aug 2009

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Authors, Indiana, Tech Developments, What I'm Reading

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On top of all the blogs, law journals, and case updates that I read each day, I also make sure to set aside time to read one Intellectual Property or Tech law book each month.  When I find a book that might be useful for clients, I post it:

worldisopenThe World Is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education by Curtis J. Bonk, a professor of instructional systems technology at Indiana University.

Technology is changing higher education in more ways than can be counted. Distance education has become common. Leading universities are putting course materials or even entire courses online — free. The Obama plan for community colleges envisions free online courses that could be used nationwide. Professor Bonk surveys this landscape in this new book.

Click here for a full interview w/ Prof. Bonk discussing such topics as the “open” educational movement, online courses, anger at wikis and the future of higher education.

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