Copyright

You may have never heard of the Berne Convention but it’s a very import international treaty governing copyrights.  Here’s a brief overview.  The Berne Convention was first adopted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886 and requires its signatory countries to safeguard the copyrights of a work created in other signatory countries as it would protect those […]

In late November, David Pogue of the New York Times wrote about a hoaxer who plastered Facebook sites with an unsolicited message that stated: In response to the new Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, crafts, professional photos and videos, etc. (as […]

Imagine that you live in an apartment in a large city, and that you don’t want to have cable television.  You used to have “rabbit ears” on your television, but once the analog transmitters went off the air, you found that your apartment faces the wrong way, and now all you get on your set […]

We’ve been following developments in copyright law related to the fashion industry for quite some time.  You may recall that clothing falls into the category of a functional item, which is not protectable under United States copyright law.  Yet, because fashion designs are frequently “knocked-off,” the fashion industry has long sought copyright protection for designs. […]