EOC: Week 11: Forced Choice

1. Cameron, Kylie
Kylie’s project blog posts was very good read, it had all of the requirements needed for this project.
 
2. Reininger, Zachary
Zach’s was very informative but he should of chose other color besides the color red for the quotes, because it was hard to read a thin red text on a dark gray background.
 

3. McGivern, Joy

Joy’s Project Blog post was so informative and easy to understand.

4. Stephens,Briana Lynne
I like how she chose a bigger text size, because it was easier for me to read, but she misspelled final on her label.
 
5. Khwaja, Amer

Amer’s project was okay, I think it could have been better, but he did have all of the requirements.

 

6. Sua, Christopher

I thought mine was okay, I thought it could have been better, but definitely not the worst and I should of read the direction more carefully, because I color my entire text instead of just quotes.

 

7. Munns, Lisa Jae

Lisa’s had something missing in her final project and should work on the title as well, because I was confused by the title, I thought she miss labeled her blog, but she didn’t.
 

8. Booth, Alicia

I like her project, but not sure it that’s 1500 words and I had the same problem where the lawyer didn’t know all of the answer, because they aren’t in that field.
 

9. Carrillo, Andrea Elizbeth

Andrea’s was missing 3 blog posts required for this project and obviously didn’t have 1500 words and definitely need more info.

My Own Argument and Opinions

I agree with most of these laws. I wish the international copyright life span last longer, “In the book it says, “This protection must last for at least the life of the author plus 50 years.” Infact I wish copyright would last forever until the world ends, but I understand, I mean once you’re dead than you can’t do anything if anyone steals it. In the U.S. the life of the, “copyright lasts between 95 and 120 years.” I think both U.S. and International copyright law should last the same at least. Especially if the with internet being so international. U.S. citizens isn’t the only ones that uses it. That’s my only argument to the entire copyright system.

Rule of Law

In the book it says, “Copyright law protects a variety of original expression, including art, sculpture, literature, music songs, choreography, crafts, poetry, software, photography, movies, video games, video, websites, architecture, and graphics. Protection occurs automatically—that is, you acquire copyright once you fix the work in a medium—but this automatic protection can be enhanced by registering the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.” In other words your no one is allowed to steal your work, but if you want more protect register. A work can only be copyrighted if it’s an original work and for it to be recognized an an original work. In the book is says, “It must be original—that is, the author must have created rather than copied.” So I don’t think any fan art can be protect by the copyright so keep that in mind. “It must be fixed in a tangible (concrete) medium of expression—for example, it should be recorded or expressed on paper, audio or videotape, computer disk, clay, or canvas.” And lastly, “It must have at least some creativity—that is, it must be produced by an exercise of human intellect. There is no hard and fast rule as to how much creativity is enough. To give an example, it must go beyond the creativity found in the telephone white pages, which involve a nondiscretionary alphabetic listing of telephone numbers rather than a creative selection of listings.” The only things copyright laws do not protect are ideas and facts. The book says, “it protect only the unique way in which ideas or facts are expressed.” So if you have a great idea for an art and you don’t want people to steal that idea, don’t spread it online or tell your friends and secretly apply it on your art. That’s the only advice I can give. What about an international copyright law? Does it apply the same way as it does here in the U.S.? Well, they are very similar due to several of international treaties. The most important treaty for artist are the Berne Convention. In the book it says, “Under this treaty, all member countries (in excess of 100 countries, including virtually all industrialized countries) must afford copyright protection to authors who are nationals of any member country.” but the international copyright protection doesn’t last very long, it only last about 50 plus years. Another thing that helps out with the international copyright law is GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). In the book is says, “GATT treaty contains a number of provision that affect copyright protection in signatory countries. Together, the Berne Copyright Convention and the GATT treaty allow U.S. authors to enforce their copyrights in most industrailized nations and allow the nationals of those nation to enforce the copyrights in the United States.” So to put things short, yes, your art will be protect in most countries. Just because you created it doesn’t mean you own it. In the book it say, “If a work is created by an employee in the course of the employment, the work is called a “work made for hire” and the copyright is made by an employer.” For example Spielberg doesn’t own Jurassic Park, but Universal owns it. “If the work is commissioned and the parties sign a written work-made for hire agreement, the copyright will be owned by the commissioning party.” And “If the author sells (“assigns”) the copyright to someone else, the purchasing person or business owns the copyright.” Well what happens if some one steals/copies your work? What action can you take? Well, in the book it says, “In the even someone infringes the exclusive rights of a copyright owner the owner is entitled to sue in federal court.” There are three ways to ask the court if your work is infringed. This book says, “Issue order (restraining orders and injunctions) to prevent further violation.” You can also “Award money damages if appropriate.” Or you can, “In some circumstances, award attorney fees.” Be careful of what you take off the internet for your own use thats all I can say. It only time a copyrighted work be used without an owner’s permission is when “a copyrighted work are considered fair use.”

Reasoning of the Law

The copyright law is important, because media is not physical creation like a sculpture, it is what you see. So the only way to protect your creation is through a copyright. It has even gotten more important after the creation of the internet. On the internet people can stay anonymous and steal people’s work off they internet. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 helps the creators protect their work on the internet. In order to protect your work, you must get for a copyright especially if your a filmmaker like me. In the book it states, “ Motion pictures are entitled to copyright protection under the audiovisual work category and may be registered with the U.S. Copyright.” The motion pictures are being protect in Copyright Act of 1976, both film and animation are being protect by this Act. In the section 101 of the act, this section is also mentioned in the book as well, “Motion pictures are audiovisual works consisting of a series of related images which, when showing is succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sound, if any.” So even a stop motion animation and silent films are protect by this act. You don’t have to register to a get a copyright. In the book it says, “Registration is not required to obtain copyright protection; that occurs automatically when a work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Nevertheless, registration is recommended. Even though there’s a copyright law, there are people out there who will try to steal your work. So what do you do it that happens? Well, the lawyer that I talked to told me this, “Notify them of the violation, and demand that they cease. Of course, in anticipation that they do not comply with your demand and you have to proceed with a civil lawsuit, it's best to send your demand by certified mail in order to prove that you attempted to resolve the issue outside of court.”

The Questions

These question are of interest to me, because will be a filmmaker, so I’m very worried about my intellectual property taken without permission specially with the internet where anything can be taken so easily. My questions mostly involves copyright because, I would be working for a studio like Universal and Paramount so I won’t be actually owning anything. It will belong to the studio that I work for at that time. If I were to remake the movie Jaws, I would be working for Universal and Universal would own that rights. so my ten questions were:
1. How can I tell if someone has used my work without my permission?
2. What action should I take if someone steals my work or use without permission?
3. Is it a copyright infringement if I use a clip of the movie for my own work?
4. Does my copyright offer protect from other countries?
5. How long does my copyright protection last?
6. How can I make sure that an idea hasn’t been copyrighted, so I won’t end up stealing?
7. Do I have to publish my work first in order to gain copyright protection?
8. How can I prove that a person has taken my work?
9. How can I prove that my work is an original work?
10. How can I tell that a sound effects or a video are public domain?

Legal Authority

I made contact with Lucien Cravens, he’s one of my dad’s friends. Lucien specializes in Accidents, Bankruptcy, Criminal Defense, and Divorce. Lucien Craven is a retired U.S. Air Force and can speak Japanese. He started working for U.S. Air Force in 1985. In 1992 he graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in that same year he started working at Japanese Ministry of Education. He left that job the next year. He left the Air Force in 1999. He graduated from William S. Boyd School of Law in 2001. He was in vacation when I contacted him, but he was still cool with answer questions for me. My dad messaged him asking if it’s okay, to answer couple of question for me and of course he said yes. so thats how I made contact with him. I think he is a great lawyer, for him to answer my questions while he’s in vacation is saying something. Even though he doesn’t specialize in Intellectual property, he went through the trouble of answering them. So if you need help with Accidents (Personal Injury), Bankruptcy, Criminal Defense, and Divorce, This is the guy to talk to I think. All of my dad’s friends have been cool so far to talk to. I don’t think it would be a pain on contacting him.

EOC: Week 10: Lawyer Jokes

Q: Why did God invent lawyers?
A: So that real estate agents would have someone to look down on.
http://www.iciclesoftware.com/LawJokes/IcicleLawJokes.html

A man who had been caught embezzling millions from his employer went to a lawyer seeking defense. He didn’t want to go to jail. But his lawyer told him, "Don’t worry. You’ll never have to go to jail with all that money.” And the lawyer was right. When the man was sent to prison, he didn’t have a dime.
http://www.ahajokes.com/law003.html

How many personal injury attorneys does it take to change a light bulb?             

• How many can you afford?
• Three - one to turn the bulb, one to shake him off the ladder, and the third to sue the ladder company.

http://brainden.com/lawyer-jokes.htm

Q: What do you call a lawyer gone bad?
A: Senator.
http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Lawyer.htm

Q: How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?
A: His lips are moving.
http://www.jokesandhumor.com/jokes/225.html