That's a great question. I highly recommend that you hire a competent trademark attorney to run a clearance search before you launch the brand. That search should take approximately 1-3 hours, depending on how many results need to be reviewed. If you get the green light, you should also... View More

The short answer is "most likely, yes."

The M*A*S*H trademark is limited to "a comedy television series."

The writers of that TV series will have a copyright for those TV scripts. So, you may not make a derivative story about any of the characters from that TV... View More

James L. Arrasmith Lawyers, want to be a Justia Connect Pro too? Learn more ›
answered on May 18, 2024

Yes, you can likely use the name "M.A.S.H" for a short story even though "M*A*S*H" is trademarked. Here's why:

1. Avoiding trademark infringement: As long as your story is not about a mobile army surgical hospital and doesn't use elements or characters from the... View More

James L. Arrasmith Lawyers, want to be a Justia Connect Pro too? Learn more ›
answered on May 9, 2024

To protect a phrase, you can consider trademark registration through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or copyright registration through the U.S. Copyright Office. Here's a breakdown of the legal hurdles and costs involved:

Trademark Registration (USPTO):

1.... View More

Alan Harrison Lawyers, want to be a Justia Connect Pro too? Learn more ›
answered on May 8, 2024

Attorneys will be reluctant to quote our fees in a public forum like this. Different attorneys may think that filing and prosecuting a trademark application is easy and should be cheap, or difficult and should be expensive. The USPTO will charge either $250 or $350 per "class" of goods or... View More

When writing a Children's Book the best protection is the copyright protection for the book. Be sure to once the final version of the book is complete to register the work with the Library of Congress. A copyright is not protected in court without being official registered work. The... View More

Jim Boness Lawyers, want to be a Justia Connect Pro too? Learn more ›
answered on Dec 5, 2023

You have a couple of options for protecting your original work, as described. The first would be to copyright the book, or books, you write. You could do them individually (single author, same claimant, one work, not for hire) and pay the $45 dollar e-copyright registration fees for each.... View More

James L. Arrasmith Lawyers, want to be a Justia Connect Pro too? Learn more ›
answered on Aug 29, 2023

Summarizing other people's content and monetizing it could potentially expose you to copyright infringement claims under federal law, especially if the summaries capture the essence or key elements of the original work. The Fair Use doctrine allows for limited use of copyrighted material... View More

The problem with websites like that are that often times the images are uploaded by users and they just say they are copyright free. I would suggest going with a more reputible source that licenses them so you potentially have recourse if someone claim copyright infringment against you.

You do not go to jail for copyright infringement of this type, if it is even copyright infringement. People making counterfeit DVDs or the like on a massive scale are the ones who go to jail. Whether or not what you copied is even copyrighted or copyrightable is a different story and would require... View More

In a nutshell, no. Copyright belongs to the creator/author (or their heirs/assigns), and you are not the creator. You could write a book about it and own the copyright to your book.

No, because you cannot copyright initials or even a signature. But, you can trademark initials and signatures.

Depends. You should consult with an attorney and make sure you understand the terms and conditions of the museum.

Basically no, as you would presumably infringe on someone's copyright and also likely a trademark.

I try to make it simple: If you are trying to make money off of someone else's work, there is likely a problem.

Consult with an attorney.

Depending on the license agreement you may not have any protection for the derivatives.

Check the commons license.

Just because there is no federal US trademark on it does not mean it would be fair game. An analysis would be much deeper. Besides, there are three live marks for "the sorting hat" and one is for a bunch of printed material. If you look at that, let's say you could open a coffee... View More

Copyright would likely not be the issue as the Rawlings and/or MLB logos are likely not copyrighted (nor likely copyrightable), but you could have a trademark issue. The issue would be similar to an extent of the recent Lil Nas X Satan shoes issue that Nike sued over.

This sounds like a derivative work, so if that is the case, you would most likely need to get a license.

A cancelled trademark registration does not mean that a trademark is no longer is use. Moreover another business may have started using a similar mark for similar goods/services. Before submitting a trademark application, it is recommended that you work with a trademark attorney to assist you with... View More

One would need to review the entire contract to be able to provide a proper opinion. Odds are, the music is likely only for use on YouTube.