August 12th, 2009 at 06:39am
Under copyright infringement
When Internet users search online for information, they use search engines like Yahoo, Google, and MSN. Because some page owners have paid for some of its links to the search engine websites and the links come up whenever the website owner’s results appear as a search result, there have recently been conflicts between the owners of the trademark and some third parties. Efforts are being made to clamp down and contain the unauthorized utilization and misappropriation of trademarks and other intellectual property items when it comes to Internet search related issues.
J.G. Wentworth v. Peachtree Settlement Funding
In one such trademark conflict, J.S. Wentworth complained that Peachtree Settlement Funding infringed the trademarks JG WENTWORTH and J.G.WENTWORTH. The Defendant had used these trademarks as keywords and had paid to have links appear to its own website “immediately proximate to the link to Plaintiff’s website on the search-results screen” each time a user of the Internet searched the Google engine for “J.G. Wentworth” or “JG Wentworth.”
Because Peachtree Settlement Funding and J.G. Wentworth are competitors in the field of structured settlements, Plaintiff claimed that Defendant had stolen potential customers and diluted the effectiveness of its various trademarks, and that this caused a subtantial profit loss for the plaintiff. Defendant Peachtree moved to have the complaint dismissed.
The court acknowledged two important operative issues:
1. Whether Defendant used the trademark as keywords in the Google AdWords advertising program under the Trademark Act’s “use in commerce.” Owner of a trademark establishes rights through the use of the trademark in public marketplace.
2. Whether the use of the Plaintiff’s trademark infringed trademark rights provided for in the Act because it had a good chance of confusing the consumer.
On whether the trademark was used in commerce, Defendant argued that the trademark’s use was not for the public to see, and was not meant to be associated to Peachtree Settlement Funding, only an analog to the user’s personal response to a trademark. Defendant claimed it was not used in commerce “in connection with the sale of goods or services” to confuse consumers. Disagreeing, the court decided that Defendant’s use of the trademarks as keywords in their Google AdWords links, designed to draw internet users, constituted use in commerce under the Act.
Regarding infringement, however, Defendant argued that using the J.G. WENTWORTH trademarks as keywords was not likely to confuse the consumer. Here the court agreed, and stated “[a]t no point are potential consumers ‘taken by a search engine’ to defendant’s website…the links to defendant’s website always appear as independent and distinct links on the search result pages.” There was also no accusation that the Defendant’s ads and links that used the Plaintiff’s were “in any way discernable to [I]nternet users and potential customers,” and that “[d]ue to the separate and distinct nature of the links created on any of the search results pages in question, potential customers have no opportunity to confuse defendant’s services, goods, advertisements, links or websites for those of plaintiff.” The court then decided that the use of Plaintiff’s trademarks was not trademark infringement under the Trademark Act and the court dismissed the complaint.
The J.G. Wentworth v. Settlement Funding case confirms that it is not copyright infringement to use other companies’ trademarks in their online advertising keywords, in the opinion of this Pennsilvania court. Similar decisions have been made by other courts as well, including California, New York, and Virginia, and the Second Court of Appeals.
However, it’s important also that online advertisers such as Google AdWords and the trademark owners be aware that the issues of trademark infringement on these ads has not been resolved nationwide. Some courts have decided that purchase of a keyword does constitute “use in commerce,” and some have not reached a conclusion regarding the question of likelihood of consumer confusion. Other courts, such as New Jersey, California, Georgia, Minnesota, and the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, have focused on the facts at trials instead of addressing the issues of use in commerce.
In general, however, the courts seem to side with the advertisers who use the keywords rather than the owners of trademarks, although it may be a while before the issue is fully resolved.
http://www.logonerds.com/;Logo Design
By Copyright Law
August 10th, 2009 at 12:49am
Under trademark law
What is a Domain? The simplest definition of a computer domain is an Internet location or address. It is simply the permanent location of information on the Internet. Most of today’s domains have recognizable names such as www.schoolofdomains.com or www.mydomainchallenge.com. In reality, the letters making up a domain name are substitutes for long strings of numbers that would be difficult or impossible to remember. Mydomaincallange.com numerically would look something like this 123.345.567. That is called IP address. IP addresses are neither intuitive nor easy to remember. Use of a domain name that replaces a string of meaningless numbers makes it much more memorable and recognizable. When you set up a website, you should choose a domain name that clearly lets visitors know what your site, or domain, is about. The most common domains end in .com, .net, .org or .edu. These last three letters are equivalent to showing the “neighborhood” of the domain. For instance, domains ending in .edu are all related to education and most are schools of some type. Domains ending in .org are often organizations such as non-profits, while .com and .net are used by just about anyone who sets up a domain .However .com is still considered most popular and sought after top level domain.Whether or not you’ve heard the terms “Top-Level Domains” or “TLDs”, you’ve interacted with them every time you type a web address into your web browser. A TLD is the group of letters that follows the final dot in a domain name. For instance, the TLD for Domain.com is “com”. Read more about top level domains. Anyone can register a domain name, but to do this you will need to provide the registration company that is called registrars with some personal details such as name, address, company name and contact information. In most cases, you will register the name for at least one year, and then have to pay a renewal fee to keep beyond that. Your domain name can contain any letters or numbers you want as well as hyphens ( – ) , and can be up to 67 characters long. Your best bet is to find a short but memorable domain name. You will also need to follow current trademark laws to protect both you and other domain owners. Domains should be between 1 to 63 characters long and must not exceed 255 characters. Top-level domains Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or more characters). The most popular are .com, .net, .org, .info, or a two-character territory code based on ISO-3166. For instance, the territory code for Estonia is .ee, Australia .au, France .fr. Top-level domains are sometimes also called first-level domains. The process of assigning a TLD name is not all that simple. The assigning process is done by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Name and Numbers. This organization is known as ICANN and a name that domain owners see quite often. This is because ICANN operates the DNS root zone and also operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Yes, ICANN is a very busy organization. They are constantly evaluating whether or not they need to add additional TLDs. But in addition to territory codes, they also issue what is called Generic top-level domains, or gTLDs. These are top-level domain names that anyone in the world can register. But ICANN does make sure that the correct territory codes and gTLDs are being extended to the organizations registering them. And ICANN also reserves special TLDs in order to avoid confusion amongst common domains and purposes on the Internet. These TLDs include .invalid, .example, .test, and .local host. These are only used under very special circumstances and ICANN determines if the circumstance is special enough. If it isn’t, then the individual or company seeking to use one of these top-level domains must use one of the more common domain names. If you want to have a new domain name extension at the end of your web address, you will have to contact ICANN to make the request. However, when it comes to special domains, such as the special TLDs, it is very slim that the request will be approved. That is why you don’t see those domain name extensions that often. Some of them you’ve probably never seen at all. This shows how rare approval is on these TLDs. Why is ICANN so picky about top-level domains? Well, they are because they are responsible for keeping the Internet organized. Without some sort of process put in place, the Internet would become a very unorganized place. Despite how chaotic it may already seem, it is rather organized compared to what it could be. You are able to find the many things that you do and new organizations and individuals are able to obtain valuable domain name because the system is very particular. And until these special TLDs and any others that ICANN develops become necessary, you can expect such domain extensions as .com, .net, .org, and .info to be the most common ones that you find. They get the job done. However, you have to determine which is more appropriate for your purpose. If you’re an organization, you can choose .org. If the .com is taken, you can use the .net. If your site is purely informational, you can choose .info. You get to make that choice.
By Copyright Law
August 6th, 2009 at 06:41pm
Under intellectual property
Due Diligence in Joint Venture is a process, since recently joining partners might normally consider entity Intellectual Property (IP) assets. While in a JV partnership, you will need to consider legal and monetary analysis, which are carefully issued at the time two parties join in business. The Due Diligent Intellectual Property research will help you to evaluate copyrights of your partner, trademarks, patented asset, and trade secrets. Continue below. If a partner owns right of Intellectual Property, which are protected by licenses, the party has the right to the valuable Joint Venture. This is important since if you are selling a product or line of products for a business you want to make sure that the partner houses all legal rights to the products. Intelligence Property auditing, or diligent investigations will help through the verification process, thus verifying that the Intellectual Property has rights held by the product owner. Thus, this will leave you room to confirm, verify, exploit, and enforce the rights of the products. The verification will provide suitable joint venture relations, and provide confidence while proposing objectives through business. While writing a contract for Joint Venture you will need to consider the transferring of Intellectual Property. As a venture partner contributing to the Intellectual Properties, including rights, you are placed in the out of the usual run of things, positioning self as a transferee and transferor. The business partner then will consider the transferor or Joint Venture partner, considering the Intellectual Properties, allowing only room for you to successfully run the business jointly, while eliminating any chances of losing control of the portfolio or exposing the IP portfolio to any irrational dangers. You as the transferor then will find interest in capturing to the limits the Intellectual Properties, while growing into a successful JV relationship. Accordingly while structuring a contract for Joint Venture, you will not only focus on the Intellectual Property, you will also consider agreed transferring of documentation, while drafting the information in detail and leaving out vagueness as much as possible. Thus, the interchanging of Intellectual Property in Joint Venture forms a project and/or license reunion. Still, the projects could prove unbending, while forms of transfers are sent. The project first, might put harsh limits on the abilities of the assignor to utilize Intellectual Property and its rights in the market or industry reached Furthermore, JV may exclusively limiting its purposes of completing the fulfillments of the venture partner, targeting the particular objectives in business, and once the goals are met, usage of the partners Intellectual Properties may not be needed any longer in the business. Accordingly, you might want to seek out reliable partners, i.e. show reluctance to give over your Intellectual Properties to those ventures that are proven inexperienced.You want to structure the contract so that the two parties joining in Intellectual Property, including transferee and transferor, leaving no room for impairments of independency, while removing any conflicts produced in the relationship. Thus, licenses may offer more flexibility in the process of transferring Intellectual Properties to joint venture partners. The license in its self has variables, including scopes, terms, etc.The license and its scope decides the rights, including settled on, and if those rights will have copyright exclusions. In other words, the scope of the license is to decide if the usage by you has particular restrictions and/or limits that prevent you from selling to the fullest.
By Copyright Law
August 6th, 2009 at 12:47pm
Under trademark law
When you’re ready to launch your web site and you’re trying to select a good domain name, there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration.
Select a Domain Name that Reflects Your Web Site
Above all else, your domain name should reflect what your web site is all about. For example, if your web site is about grooming a dog, you certainly wouldn’t want to select a domain name like ‘mybusinessname.com,’ as this would have nothing to do with your web site’s focus. You would want to select a domain name that tells the world what your web site is all about — something like ‘doggrooming.com.’
Select a Domain Name that Contains Your Web Site’s Keywords
Another consideration of great importance are your keywords. Try to select a domain name that contains your most relevant keyword phrase, as some Search Engines place relevancy on them. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your web page. If your web page is focusing on grooming a dog, your best keyword phrase will be “dog grooming.”
Select a Domain Name that will be Easily Remembered
With millions of web sites accessible on the Internet, it is also very important to select a domain name that will be easily remembered. As in the ‘doggrooming.com’ example above, ‘doggrooming.com’ is very easily remembered, contains the most relevant keyword phrase and describes the web site in explicit detail. It is the ‘perfect’ domain name for this particular web site.
Select the Best Domain Extension
Another consideration of importance is the domain name extension. Although there are many new domain extensions available, dotcom is still the best choice. When typing in a web address, Internet users automatically want to type in a .com extension, as this is the extension that has been embedded into our brains from the start.
Avoid Using Numbers in Your Domain Name
Although you may be tempted to do so, avoid using numbers within your domain name. Including a number within your domain name can cause problems, as when you tell someone your web address, you will continually have to tell them it’s a number and not the word. For example, if you selected a domain name like number1host.com, if you were to tell someone your web address, they may try to type it as ‘numberonehost.com’ instead of ‘number1host.com.’ This type of domain name would cause confusion.
Avoid using Dashes and Underscores in Your Domain Name
Although many people do it, don’t make the same mistake I made when I first started out. Avoid using dashes, underscores or any other characters within your domain name that may cause confusion. When I registered my domain name, Web-Source.net, I actually wanted websource.com; however, it had already been registered. So, I settled for Web-Source.net. Now, when I tell someone my domain name, I have to say it like this: web dash source dot net.
Don’t get me wrong, www.Web-Source.net is now a high traffic web site, but I can only imagine how much traffic I’ve lost over the years due to my domain name. I have received many emails over the years from visitors who had a hard time finding my site. They said they couldn’t remember the domain name and kept wanting to type in websource.com.
Avoid using Abbreviations within Your Domain Name
Although well-known companies, such as IBM, can get away with using abbreviations within their domain name, most companies can’t. As a rule, try to avoid using abbreviations or anything that will be difficult for your visitors to remember. Not only will this cause confusion, but it can also cause your potential visitors to make spelling mistakes when trying to type in your web address.
Avoid using Long Domain Names
Although you may now register long domain names, it’s really not a good idea. I learned this lesson the hard way. I registered ‘www.workfromhomebusinessguide.com’ and the sad thing is … I can’t remember the domain name half the time. How can I expect my potential visitors to remember it? Try to keep your domain name as short as possible. The longer the domain name the harder it is to remember and the more apt your potential visitors are to make a typo when typing it into their browser.
Ensure Your Domain Name is Not a Trademark Infringement
Prior to registering a domain name, you may want to consider searching the Trademark Electronic Search System, http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm to ensure your potential domain name isn’t infringing on any trademarks.
Please don’t take this point lightly, as trademark infringement could cost you your entire business. It is your responsibility to ensure that your potential domain name doesn’t infringe on any registered trademarks, as the trademark laws that apply in the hard copy world also apply on the Internet. Any company that registers a trademark has the right to protect their trademark and has the right to notify you that your domain name is infringing upon their trademark.
When you’re ready to begin, create a list of a dozen or more potential domain names, as chances are, your first choice will already be taken. With any luck, one of the domain names on your list will be available.
Take your time and select a quality domain name that will grow with your business. It will be well-worth your time and effort in the long run.
http://www.freerfidcourse.com;rfid how it works
By Copyright Law
August 6th, 2009 at 12:40pm
Under copyright protection
It is simply not possible to prevent someone from copying your website images. If someone is skilled and determined there’s no way to stop them from abusing your website and your content. But there’s still light in the end of the tunnel. You can use some semi-sophisticated techniques to limit the amount of people that can copy your website’s images. Keep reading.
The first method I recommend is called digital image watermarking. A watermark can be visible or can be invisibly embedded into the pixels of an image. There are companies like Digimarc offering digital watermarking services and providing a digital identity for any media object, thus protecting it from stealing. But these systems are not fool proof, they have serious weaknesses and they are costly.
Another method would be to hide your original image behind a transparent GIF using CSS style sheets. If someone right clicks the image and selects to save it, it will only save the transparent GIF, not the original image. Similarly, you can insert the image as a table background. But in both cases a visitor can always make use of the -PrtScrn- button to copy anything from your website.
Embedding the images in Flash files is another popular method. Now, this is a neat method to use, it will make it difficult for a thief to steal your work. You cannot right click and copy the image if it’s embedded in a flash file. But the flash file is already on your hard drive (cache). You can use any flash de-compiler software to easily grab any contents from a flash executable file. And of course you can simply use the -PrtScn- button to take snapshots.You see, the truth is that there’s nothing you can do to prevent a thief from stealing your content.
Fortunately there are services like
Copyscape that monitor your website’s activity and detect potential thieves. You can also have a look at this
copyright protection guide written by a former federal prosecutor and learn about the same legal techniques that the top internet attorneys and big law firms use.
http://www.mystainedglasswindowfilm.com/house-window-tinting-cut-your-electricity-bill-by-up-to-20-percent/;house window tinting
By Copyright Law
August 4th, 2009 at 12:42pm
Under copyright protection
The internet is the best place if you want to steal content. It makes it really easy to copy any information you see on webpages, whether it is text, images, media or .pdf files etc. A lot of web designers or webmasters are spending hours using various techniques to protect their webpage content. Well, the fact is that there’s no method that can effectively protect your website content from copying.
When you view a webpage that means all content from this particular webpage is already on your hard drive. All the words, images, source code, media files are already downloaded to your temporary internet files folder on your pc. It’s a matter of simply moving those files to another location on your hard drive and you’ve got all the content from that website.
So, whether you like it or not the news is there’s no way to prevent a skilled and determined thief from stealing your content. Here’s is my advice: If you have something that’s really valuable and don’t want people to make use of it without your permission, then just don’t upload it on the web.So called “Protection methods”
Disabling the text copy. Lots of webmasters use this method hoping that it will protect the webpage’s content from being copied. This method is very easy to implement. You just add a small java script code which prevents the website visitor from highlighting any text on the web page and make use of the -Copy- function.
And what happens if your visitor has disabled java script? Or if they simply view the source code of the webpage from the browser menu? My advice: Just don’t bother using this method, it will only annoy your visitors.
A very popular method is the “No right click” script. This is a java script that disables the right mouse click on webpages so that visitors will not be able to look at the web page source code. My advice: never disable the right mouse click. Again, you will only succeed in annoying your website visitors.
Another popular method is the HTML stripping method. The idea is to remove all spaces in your source code so that it looks like a big long line. That way it will make it harder for people to read it and will also make your webpages download faster. But what happens if you want to edit that webpage yourself? My advice: Don’t even think about using this method especially if you keep updating your webpages often.
By far the most useless method of protecting your content is to convert all your text to images. I’ve seen only a few websites implementing this technique. It will take you years to convert all text, you will confuse the search engines (I doubt you will ever rank in any search engine) because they will not be able to read any text, and if someone desperately wants your content all it takes is to sit down and retype it manually!
There are other similar so called content protection methods, but I firmly believe that there’s no point to try to protect your content using any of them. It’s just a waste of time. If someone really wants your website content, no matter you do, there’s no way to prevent them from stealing.
What you can do, is use the popular
Copyscape service which monitors your website’s content or learn some secret techniques top internet attorneys and prosecutors use. You could be your
own web lawyer and protect your website from copyright infringement.
http://gelion.co.uk/manchester-united-fc-m-11.html;manchester united gifts
By Copyright Law
August 4th, 2009 at 12:43am
Under music copyright
A music download is a song or album available for downloading on the Internet. Downloading music first became popular with file sharing technologies such as peer-to-peer networks, with people breaking copyright laws by not paying for any of it. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claimed that this practice was hurting the music industry, and a series of law suits led to many of these networks being closed down.
With the popularity of portable audio players, interest in free music downloads is understandably high. While some newer artists welcome free music downloads, more often than not established artists do not give their music away. Free downloads on the Internet are therefore normally relegated to artists looking for exposure. The primary method used to acquire free music downloads of well-known artists is via peer-to-peer (P2P) network sharing programs. However, there is a legal catch.Technology Used:
• Peer-to-peer network is a communications environment that allows all desktop and laptop computers in the network to act as servers and share their files with other users on the network. Peer-to-peer networks are quite common in small offices that do not use a dedicated file server, and client versions of the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems allow files to be shared.
• If set up properly, folders are made sharable for read access only and not write access. This allows network users to copy files “from” the shared folder, but not write “to” the shared folder. In addition, they cannot alter the original files in place, unless, of course, the shared folders are assigned a “read/write” status.
• There are several major issues surrounding file sharing. Of these, the two most important are centralization vs decentralization and the privacy and anonymity of users. The latter takes on added importance when the legality of file-sharing is challenged by some copyright owners. A third issue is the collection and sale of data about users, using software referred to by its detractors as “spyware”.
The vast majority of songs downloaded are the property of artists who have not agreed to offer their legally protected music for free. The artist receives no compensation for free music downloads, and many, if not most artists and labels view P2P sharing as tantamount to stealing. It is no surprise then, that P2P free music downloads have created a legal uproar.
Free music downloads have been widely disputed on both sides. Downloading an artist’s work on P2P networks without consent of the artist or label can result in monetary damages or jail time. While file sharing networks are free, each user must decide whether he or she wants to risk these consequences in order to download many of today’s popular songs for free.
By Copyright Law
July 25th, 2009 at 12:35pm
Under copyright act
Writing informational articles for the Web is a good way to establish oneself as an authority on any topic. Creating articles is also very effective in generating traffic for your website. However, deceitful authors can plagiarize your work (with very little effort). Read on for advice and tips to cope with copyright violations.
A few lazy individuals have plagiarized a number of my articles for their blogs and websites. These sloths deliberately copied my hard work, verbatim, without my biography and Internet links. So far, dishonest webmasters with Google adSense blogs or directories have committed all violations.
I decided to nose around until I pinpointed contact information for the violators. However, these troublemakers are usually adept at concealing e-mail addresses and configuring blogs so that nobody is able to post comments.
As a result, I contacted Google. Google has zero tolerance for copyright infringements. Such violations reflect poorly on their corporate image, and they respond rapidly to legitimate complaints. Performing a search for: ‘digital millennium copyright act google.com’ will locate a page with full instructions and company contact information. The page also displays links to appropriate websites with more particulars about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
My next step was to contact the hosting company for each of the violators. It is often difficult to unearth a valid e-mail address. You can try generic addresses like abuse@’hostingwebsite’, info@’hostingwebsite’, webmaster@’hostingwebsite’, etc. You may have to visit the webhost online and complete a support request. Alternatively, you may need to spend some time on the telephone.
My final action was to type out a document similar to the one below. I then faxed it to Google and the hosting companies, while I continued to monitor the violating websites. In some cases, pirated content would disappear for a few days, and then the bootlegged articles would reappear.— BEGIN SAMPLE COPYRIGHT VIOLATION DOCUMENT —
All of the articles on the following pages are a violation of my intellectual copyright and the copyright of the article directory from which they were copied:
(Link to first web page)
(Link to second web page)
(Link to third web page), etc.
The articles were copied from here:
(Link to author summary webpage at article directory from which articles were plagiarized)
The copied text blatantly violates the publisher’s terms of service, clearly linked to on the above page:
(Link to the article directory’s terms of service page)
Every article is a direct copy and paste of my work from the above article directory, without the applicable copyright notice and links to my site or to the article directory, as required in their terms of service.
I hereby avow, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in this notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner.
Type your name here.
Sign here.— END SAMPLE COPYRIGHT VIOLATION DOCUMENT —
You may have to change the wording of the document to match whatever is appropriate for your situation. It is important to provide complete contact information: your postal/email addresses and fax/cell/telephone numbers.
Remember to include a copyright notice with each of your articles, similar to the one below. Let’s all work together to transform the Net into an honest environment; let’s clear out the vermin who prey on the intellectual property of others.
(c)Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author’s note below (with active links) are included.
Kathy is an author and webmaster who writes
articles on many topics for 1st Rate Articles, travel
articles for 111 Travel Directory, and foreign language
articles, as well as German short stories and poetry, for A-Language-Guide.
http://wprobot.net/;WP Robot Autoposter
By Copyright Law
July 14th, 2009 at 04:27pm
Under music copyright
Want some music to include in a project. Gotta make sure it’s legally ok to include it. Therefore are there any sites which provide free non copyright music?
By Copyright Law Enquirer
July 14th, 2009 at 04:25am
Under copyright law
I found a drawing on a web page in the UK (I’m in the US). I downloaded the image and proceeded to edit it. I redrew it and made actual changes in the lines of the abstract drawing of a womens face. I then inverted, and changed it from black and white to blue. It’s not exactly the same anymore, but it still looks a lot like the original.
All I want to do is use this picture on my sign outside my store front.
Is this still against copyright laws, or have I made sufficient enough changes to the original?
And whats the worse that could happen if caught.
By Copyright Law Enquirer
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