Get free answers to your Intellectual Property legal questions from lawyers in your area.
I am an artist who is planning on making custom painted tote bags and selling them. I bought the bags from a website and plan on painting them myself but is it illegal to paint things such as band logos, star wars characters, tv/video game characters ect. onto a bag and then sell it myself? Is that... View More 
answered on Jul 21, 2017
You are very likely going to be infringing on a number of intellectual property rights if you use band logos, star wars characters, etc. Not only might you be infringing on copyrights, you might have trademark issues, product dilution issues, false attribution of source/sponsorship issues, etc.... View More
I have a fictional character that is part of a group. On items featuring the character, I have "Character, Group, and all related characters are © me"
An individual with a group that has the same name is claiming that by doing this I am putting a copyright claim on the name... View More
answered on Apr 6, 2017
Your factual scenario is a bit unclear. Names, short phrases, slogans and terms are not subject to copyright law. Copyright attaches automatically to original works of authorship, which may include the character that you describe. Copyright notice is no longer obligatory to perfect copyright in... View More
I am a student at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. I have been told multiple times that as students, any videos that we create using our school's equipment do not belong to us students; they belong to the school and we have no rights to the content. Is this... View More
answered on Mar 5, 2017
Yes, unfortunately, it likely can. You probably signed some sort of an agreement to that effect when you enrolled in the school.
A couple of points:
(1) Once you graduate and start working for a magazine or newspapers, your work will also belong to your employer.
(2) As... View More
Is it possible for someone else to trademark the name when I have been using for 9 years as TokeMaster.com
answered on Dec 28, 2015
If you have a trademark and someone violates your trademark, you can ask them to cease and desist. An intellectual property lawyer can advise based on your specific situation.
Please Take Notice: I am not your lawyer unless we enter into an engagement agreement in writing. This is only... View More
throughout their website. Is this copyright infringement and should I act on this to prevent further infringement?
answered on Oct 31, 2015
There are not enough facts given here to conclude that there is any copyright infringement, but I think you might be talking about a trademark infringement, and you have not given enough facts for that either.
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