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Copyrights

Forward to the Past: How the Statute of Limitations can Jeopardize the Copyright Termination Right

What if you’ve been given a future right that you can’t exercise when the future becomes present because of what you didn’t do in the past, even though you couldn’t have done what you didn’t do in the past because it wasn’t the future?
That’s how the statute of limitations can thwart a statutory right to get your copyrights back.
If that didn’t make sense to you, you’re getting the point. So read on.

December 23, 2021 No Comments

Copyrights

Mark J Writes on Rights

Termination Information Part 1: What the Friday the 13th Decision Means for Screenwriters and Other Authors This is the first in a series of blog posts discussing termination rights – authors’ rights under the Copyright Act to retrieve their copyrights they previously assigned. For past articles about termination rights and the myriad issues they entail, see here and here where

October 25, 2021 No Comments

#IPSERIES Interview – The thin line between fair dealing, sampling and copyright infringement.

Mark Jaffe, Managing Partner of TorMark Law, is interviewed by Rita Anwiri Chindah on #IPSERIES about fair use and the Tracy Chapman, Nicki Minaj copyright infringement lawsuit. Listen to the interview here

November 5, 2020 No Comments

Hold My Brand: Trademark Considerations for Rock Bands and Other Musical Artists

I was inspired to write this post by Hootie and the Blowfish, who are mired in unfortunate circumstances because they let their trademark registration lapse. Their misfortune is a good learning moment for others in their trademark strategy. For those who are too young to know about them, or too cool to admit it, Hootie and the Blowfish were huge

March 6, 2020 No Comments

Because you need registration to sue for copyright infringement, does a copyright really have any value if it’s not registered?

From Mark Jaffe’s Twitter: I was asked a couple of times: because you need registration to sue for copyright infringement, does a copyright really have any value if it’s not registered? The answer is yes, it most definitely does. To recap, copyright protection exists at the moment you create the work. But before you can sue for copyright infringement, the

December 11, 2019 No Comments

Employment Law

Event: How the New Gig Worker Law & Immigration Regulations Impact Small Business – November 13, 2019

Join Mark Jaffe and The Lamorinda Entrepreneurs for a panel discussion featuring three seasoned attorneys who will cover everything you need to know about how the new gig worker law and immigration regulations impact small businesses along with other common employment legal issues for small business and independent contractors alike. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-the-new-gig-worker-law-immigration-regulations-impact-small-business-tickets-79082468793? About this Event DETAILS: Wednesday, November 13th 6:30-8:30pm Orinda

October 30, 2019 No Comments

The Reconcilable Conflict Over Copyright Registration – A Proposal

Last month, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split, holding that under the Copyright Act, the Copyright Office must have granted registration to the plaintiff’s copyright before the plaintiff can sue. Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com. The Fourth Estate decision was neither ground-breaking nor surprising. It was a reasonable interpretation of 17 U.S.C. §411, which requires registration of

May 23, 2019 No Comments

Sound recording copyrights, authorship and termination rights under the Copyright Act – a series of tweets.

For the majority who would read a long series of tweets, this will be posted to twitter, for those who prefer to read on a blog. Here it is. Of course, it was still written for twitter, so please forgive the use of twitter-grammar. As promised, here’s a thread scratching the surface on sound recording copyrights, termination rights under the

March 6, 2019 No Comments

Defusing the Time Bomb Once Again

Determining Authorship in a Sound Recording This article by Mark Jaffe was originally published in the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. on December 8, 2005.

March 6, 2019 No Comments

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