Termination Rights: Are Original Marvel Illustrators and Writers Entitled to a Piece of Disney’s Profits?
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Sep 30, 2021 in Copyrights
Tag: intellectual property
Currently, Disney faces multiple termination of copyright notices filed on behalf of five comic writers and artists of the original Marvel Comics. The artists (or their heirs) claim that they played pivotal development roles in creating characters like Spider-Man and Iron Man. Even though Disney owns Marvel, these writers and artists want to take back the copyrights for their characters. Bottom line, this means once the creators own the copyright they could receive a percentage […]
Continue ReadingWhat Exactly Does “Failure to Function as a Trademark” Mean?
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Feb 4, 2021 in Intellectual Property
“Failure to function as a trademark” is one of the reasons the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may refuse to register an applicant’s proposed trademark. What does it mean? How can this happen? Quite simply, not all words, designs, or symbols used by business owners in commerce to sell goods or services function as trademarks — regardless of the trademark applicant’s intent. A word, design, or symbol does not function as a trademark […]
Continue ReadingThe Bold Business of Bold City
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Sep 24, 2020 in Trademark
“Managing a business through a pandemic is not for sissies.” That is what Susan Miller with Bold City Brewery told me when I interviewed her for this article. Susan and her son, Brian Miller, started Bold City Brewery in 2008 during the recession. They survived that economic downturn and built a successful family business brewing beer and distributing it throughout Florida. Over time, they developed a strong brand and registered the trademarks for several of […]
Continue ReadingAnything and Everything Is U
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Aug 27, 2020 in Intellectual Property
Michael Moore is a future-thinking artist and designer who believes that art not only surrounds us and is a cornerstone of all cultures, but that it helps to improve our understanding of different peoples as well. Because of this, he thinks it should be part of everyone’s life, and has made it his goal to explicitly combine art with culture. He got his start providing computer-aided design (CAD) services to structural engineers and architects. Now, […]
Continue ReadingNew Rule for Group Registration in the US Copyright Office
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jun 25, 2020 in Intellectual Property
The US Copyright Office issued a final rule this week for Group Registration of Short Online Literary Works. The Final Rule amends the regulations to establish a new type of copyright registration for works distributed online by individual writers that do not qualify as contributions to periodicals. The effective date of the new rule is August 17, 2020. The intent of the rule is to help protect short works that are published on the internet. […]
Continue ReadingWords Have Power, So BOLDLYWRITE!
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jun 18, 2020 in Intellectual Property
Communication via the written word is a talent that many people attempt to master. Maybe you dream of writing a novel but do not have any idea how to start. Or you have a blog that you are struggling to maintain. However you’re struggling with writing, you might consider talking to writing coach Karina Cadora at Karina Cadora Teaches, LLC. Karina is a writing coach and editor with over 20 years of experience teaching writing […]
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