Lawyer Jokes

Two lawyers met at a cocktail party late one night.

"How’s business?" asked the first.

"Rotten," replied the other. "Yesterday, I chased an ambulance for twenty miles. When I finally caught up to it, there were already two other lawyer hanging on to the bumper."

Q: Where can you find a good lawyer?
A: In the cemetery.

Q: Where can you find a good lawyer?
A: At the city morgue.

Q: What's the difference between a porcupine and a Mercedes Benz full of lawyers?
A: The porcupine has pricks on the outside.

Q: What's the difference between an attorney and a pit bull?
A: Jewelry

Q: What happened to the banker who went to law school?
A: Now she’s a loan shark.

I want to appeal a case

Lawyer: "Judge, I wish to appeal my client’s case on the basis of newly discovered evidence."

Judge: "And what is the nature of the new evidence?"

Lawyer: "Judge, I discovered that my client still has $500 left.

Own Argument and Opinions

Mr Casey had, a great sense of the law, even thought Mr Casey was not the perfect lawyer that i hope for in interviewing for my project he was very capable in answering all my questions to the best of his knowledge.  I realized that Mr Casey was trying to come across some very fundamental step when dealing with legal issues, and even thou he did not mention them I understood that he present them to me during the interview by explain to me that what ever legal issues one comes in contact with we should always play the rules by the book, meaning that one should follow protocal and never take anything for granted when dealing with legal issues and that playing it safe is the key to avoiding most legal issues especially when getting involve in a situation were you now that there are potential drawbacks and for problems in the future, when dealing with intellectual property rights one must be careful to protect one self from disaster, For a contract to be enforceable, seven key characteristics must be present. "A contract is a legally enforceable promise. Analyzing whether a contract exists involves inquiring into these issues: offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, legal purpose, consent, and sometimes, whether the deal is in writing."In my opinion most people who deal with creativity engineering and sort-of should have a legal sense that their always a potential risk of legal prosecution either by you or someone else, within my field of study I think its common sense to be aware of this even thought one does not study law but, most us within the creative field  have stolen or downloaded material that was someone else's and we used it for our own creativity," This ability to share intellectual property is both good news and bad. On the one hand, the owner can produce and sell unlimited copies of, say, a software program; but on the other hand, the owner has no easy way to determine if someone is using the program for free. The high cost of developing intellectual property, combined with the low cost of reproducing it, makes it particularly vulnerable to theft." chapter 28 page 502 we now that's creativity belongs to some one else now why should be surprise if the owner try's to sued us for it we can say I did not because we now that its someone else work and not are own even if we manipulated in away to change it. it is important to understand the law, "If a person is intent on lying, cheating, and stealing his way through a career, then he is unlikely to be dissuaded by anything in this or any other course. But for the large majority of people who want to do the right thing, it will be useful to study new ways of approaching difficult problems.  chapter 2 page 18 "

but that doesn't mean that we should stop from taking content and turning it into our own... because many artist want us to take there work and make our... now ! there are other who may do the opposite .... having some sort of middle ground is always good when dealing with legal issues...  Like my grandfather us to say "being safe isn't always being safe" what I;m try to say is that legal matters are always complicate, and the law is always Evolving and changing and so should we, I agree with most of Mr Casey's reasoning and i stand behind his use common sense philosophy, when dealing with legal issues. Its righted to video tape someone else's property without them knowing and using them for your gains ? those are the questions we should be asking our selves before making decisions. I'm not saying  not be aware of the laws, but have a common sense among other things is the best legal advice I can get. Mr Casey at one point  used a personal history of common sense of thing to explain to me the answer he was giving me, he told me that  at one point he decided to used music that did not belong to him in his website now knowing that  music did not belong to him he knew that it wasn't right to have it so  he took off even though he was disappointed by his decision later..."One of the major challenges for legal institutions in regulating copyrights is simply that modern intellectual property is so easy to copy. Many consumers are in the habit of violating the law by downloading copyrighted material—music, movies and books—for free" chapter 28 page 508 but has glad he did it much later.. the law seems do complicate and some times unfair, but using common sense to avoid legal issue  is always good protect and perhaps more than a lawyer can protects..   bend the law go around the law but not break the law... !                                                                                                                                                         

Rule of law

Once an author or artist grants the copyright of a work to someone else, ownership remains with the recipient for the life of the copyright, correct? Not exactly. Taking into consideration that young, struggling artists often enter into contracts that take advantage of them and their desire to reach a wider audience, the Copyright Act of 1976 specifically allows for the recapturing of copyrights under certain circumstances. Specifically, section 203 of the Act provides that grants, assignments and licenses can by terminated within a five-year window after the 35-year moratorium"Today, a copyright is valid until 70 years after the death of the work's last living author or, in the case of works owned by a corporation, the copyright lasts 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter. Once a copyright expires, anyone may use the material."chapter 28 page 507
Retailers, especially those specializing in high-end merchandise, have always expected to lose a percentage of their profits to counterfeiters, but it’s only recently that retailers have begun to crack down on just about any business that appears to undermine the authenticity of their brand, no matter how innocent the alleged perpetrator thinks their actions might have been. Hence, the March 1, 2010 filing of Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVM) v. Hyundai Motor America in US District Court, Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
The complaint filed by LVM asks for unspecified damages and an order that bars Hyundai from diluting its trademark, claiming that use of the look-alike logo “is likely to both dilute the distinctiveness and tarnish the reputation of the LVM marks.” "Similar to an existing mark. To avoid confusion, the PTO will not grant a trademark that is similar to one already in existence on a similar product. Once the PTO had granted a trademark for “Pledge” furniture polish, it refused to trademark “Promise” for the same type of product"chapter 28 page 510.

Reasoning of the LAW

When Question the lawyer he seem very logical he was patient and he gave a lot of thought behind the question and what the question entail and it seem that he was to trying pin point a certain point to to my question to answer. He had great explanation to every answer and was very aware of the question presented to him and didn't stumble on answer as good as he could. at times he seem confuse because some of my questions weren't properly written to understand or with logic and he was aware of that,when i started asking questions, so he reassure himself that he understood the question before he answer them, he was  answer very mindful at all times. "If you have insight into how different people perceive ethical issues, you will be better off. chapter 2 ethics" On several occasion he try to help me understand that legal issues where mostly & should be thought as common send issues, and not a scary matter, as though they should be treated with common sense to prevent them from happening, I felt that he was in a way helping me understand the legal issues and they can be prevented by using common sense. In other words understand what the issues are or is, is very important in law, understanding the Rules of law, what is our questions ! why I'm asking such question?  the main point Mr. Casey was attempting to get me to understand is that all things are subjective. Then comes facts he literally was concern with facts behind the question that I presented to him and he use reason and facts to answer most of the questions. He also asked questions back, to support his finding about the reason behind my questioning. He probably notice that I'm into music, I'm concert with copyrights so all those details behind my questioning gave him an impression that I'm a music lover even tho I did mention to him, he was aware of it just by asking such questions, he used that to answer the questions. "Remember that the plaintiff must demonstrate a “false” statement. Opinions, though, cannot be proven true or false. For that reason, opinion is generally a valid defense in a defamation suit. " chapter 5 page 79 He was very aware of law legal questions that I asked him even though we did not specialized in that field (Intellectual property) It seems to me that most legal court action have a procedure that they follow and its probably not much different than others."Judges generally follow precedent. When courts decide a case, they tend to apply the same legal rules that other courts have used in similar cases."  chapter 1 page 6 Inductive reasoning was mostly used by him,  he use general assumption from maybe earlier findings in school or personal experience and or legal cases, at one point he show me a legal document of a earlier case he took that involve copyrights..    

Ten Questions

My process on preparing the ten questions was to place my self in a situation where some thing when wrong or i did something wrong. I had to find the legal procedures to defend myself or sued someone and protect my legal rights. My first question was to place my self in a employer situation where I 'm the owner of a studio and a client doesn't pay me and i have go searching to find a way to get my him or her to pay me for damages and studio time....
my second question was to also place my self and similar situation where i can be sued for copyrighted material and how would i protect myself from such thing happening to me.. in the future. "A work is copyrighted automatically once it is in tangible form. For example, when a songwriter puts notes on paper, the work is copyrighted without further ado. But if she whistles a happy tune without writing it down, the song is not copyrighted, and anyone else can use it without permission". chapter 28 page 506 My third question was to be aware of the laws that have to do with companies and legal licensing, can I do or don't do as a company employee and what is the range of my protection from my employer  if any goes "sour" and what is "work for hire"?  on my next question my process was to eliminate any doubt on "work for hire" and to what extension does "work for hire" meaning  go? how does it work ! when an employee steals a copyright work from someone and uses the work to make profit, those the company fall under the obligation in-case the company get sued for infrigiment? "Today, intellectual property is a major source of wealth. New ideas—for manufacturing processes, computer programs, medicines, books—bring both affluence and influence." chapter 28, page 502 On my fifth question I want to know if I need a license to promote my business in the internet and if so what would be the legal steps towards getting one.. on my seven question my thought was to know how a patent be can be stolen and what should be done to prevent that from happening, in-order words who does some one protect them selves from a due process design or work and wants to patent before someone else takes that idea or credit, sort of what happen to Nikola Telsa a famous scientist who had a idea but was stole or taken because he had not patent the idea right away. During the 1920's."As of 2012, third parties have the right to submit evidence that an invention is not novel. Even after a patent has been granted, third parties have limited rights to challenge its validity." chapter 28 page 504

Q8: How can I prove that there has been an infringement on my copyright?

 A: well the first thing to do is to have legal evidence of the Infringement and prove that the legal evidence is forgery. My 9 question was to know if there is a legal law that states that employer have too follow certain protocals on laws..My last question had to do with a personal experience and wanted to know if there was anything i could of done to protect myself and from disaster  if so how would go about taking the first steps

 

 

Legal Authority

I made contact with this lawyer thru my sister-in-law who is a paralegal, I though she would be a good person to start my research thru and she was willing to help me with any questions concerning the law, I told her about my project and she proposed that I see her employer who is a  criminal defense lawyer. We depend upon laws for safe communities, functioning economies, and personal liberties.
About why I choose him: At first  I contacted other lawyers that I was interste in  to help out with my project but when I contact some of them they were unwill to help, the whole idea for my search was to find some one who knew a great deal about Intellectual property and contracts, My Idea was to ask Question concerning copyright laws, trademarks, business contracts & music law. "It would be nice if we could look up “the law” in one book, memorize it, and then apply it. But the law is not that simple. Principles and rules of law come from many different sources." chapter 1 page 4 since in the future I will be working with music industry & business field, and maybe start my own business I want ask question concerning business rights, my rights as business employer and audio engineer question that involve an music recording artist, and music law in general. unfortunately i did have the time to look for someone else so decide to go with my sister-in-law, proposal, and did some research about the lawyer and decide that he would be a good fit, because I think that criminal defense and intellectual property have a similar playing filed in court...  even thought ...  its a different field of law it they still play by the same "rules" in court and intellectual property and criminal defense sort of go hand-by hand. The whole idea begin my questioning was to protect my self from ever coming into a similar situation and that i can help myself, with out a lawyer help and be aware of the legal process that is involve in those situations.  Casey A. Landis a lawyer who specializes in trial litigation with an emphasis on the defense of complex criminal cases in State and Federal Court. He also involves himself in selected civil cases, particularly for individuals whose civil rights have been violated by the Government. Even thought Mr doesn't specialized in Intellectual property he seem very knowledgeable."CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW Criminal law concerns behavior so threatening to society that it is outlawed altogether. Civil law deals with duties and disputes between parties, not outlawed behavior."
 In the pass I've have gotten in some trouble with the law and thought that Mr Casey would be a good fit for my questions concerning the law and rights to protect myself in the future from criminal case. Mr Casey has litigated thousands of felony criminal cases including murder, kidnapping, sex offenses, robbery, narcotic crimes, white collar crimes, and most everything in between. Casey’s practice encompasses both trials and appeals in the State and Federal Court systems as well as before administrative boards and agencies. His legal representation commences at the investigative, pre-indictment/pre-charging stage and carries through to appeal, post-conviction, and parole, as applicable to the individual case."The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from making illegal searches and seizures of individuals, corporations, partnerships, and other organizations. The goal of the Fourth Amendment is to protect the individual from the powerful state." chapter 7 page 110 Mr casey was great source and defently will keep jim in my contact page he was very knowledgeable about the law and had gave me very good responses when asking with long complicated questions...
Mr case can be contacted at CoyerandLandis.com or 702-664-2594.
 

Week 8 EOC: Barbie Vs Bratz.

Bratz Vs mattel

The case that has been going on for 8 years is finally over with a settlement were both side didn’t win!   The doll making companies were fighting over an intellectual property case, the case were Bryant an design consultant that worked for Mattel, allegedly stole a design, called a breach of contract.  Mattel argued that Bryant violated his employment agreement by going to MGA with his Bratz idea instead of disclosing and assigning it to Mattel. Mattel claimed it was the rightful owner of Bryant's preliminary sketches and sculpt, which it argued MGA's subsequent Bratz d dolls infringed “That both Mattel and MGA claimed they stole each other’s trade secrets isn’t enough to render MGA’s counterclaim compulsory,” the panel said. “What matters is not the legal theory but the facts.”

The jury found that MGA did not infringe Mattel’s copyrights by producing the BRATZ dolls.  The jury also found in favor of MGA with respect to its counterclaim against Mattel for misappropriation of trade secrets. The court concluded that there was not a sufficient nexus or logical relationship between the relevant facts that each party relied on to support its respective legal theory to support the characterization of the counterclaims as a compulsory counterclaim.  Therefore, under the applicable statute of limitations, MGA’s 2010 counterclaim for misappropriation of trade secrets was vacat “By contrast, MGA’s trade-secret claim rested on allegations that Mattel’s employees stole MGA trade secrets by engaging in chicanery (such as masquerading as buyers) at toy fairs,” the court said. “That both Mattel and MGA claimed they stole each other’s trade secrets isn’t enough to render MGA’s counterclaim compulsory

Week 8 EOC: Ten Questions

Q1: As an audio engineer, If I made a recording for a person outside my (studio) regular employment, and the person later was being sued for stealing content (sampling) from an original copyrighted song and I as the Engineer & producer was part of the production process of his or her album, and the CD had my name as credit producer on the CD and Mix engineer could I be held responsible for copyright damages as well? Even thought I wasn't aware of the artist sampling a part of the song?

A: Yes! The most important thing about going thru contracts and agreements to always be aware of the content that your recording and make sure that the song or whatever it its that your recording has legal process begin it.

 Q2:    If I own a Music studio and a client comes in and records a series of songs without making a written contract of any kind between that person and I, but only a verbal Agreement and that person doesn’t pay me, after the recording is done, yet he or she uses that recording (material) to distribute and sell and makes money, does that make me owner of his material?  Can I sue if he uses the material to make money and if he doesn’t pay me?

A: On most cases no, that does not make you owner of the material unless you have a written paper stating that you do, but you can sued them for not paying you on damages, (non-payment) but you can have them pay you from the royalists they collect.

Q3:  As an employee of a production company, If I was send out to record music sounds & video shots, from say; a casino keno machine or just random sounds from a Particular place, or video recording of a building to be used for promotion or demonstration for the production of "new works" and the place (casino) was sued me for not asking permission, will my employer company licenses cover me In-case I was being sued directly? Is there an employee Law that protects me? If so what would be the legal procedures involve?

A: good question, most of the cases regarding copyrights, are very complicated, and there isn’t a correct answer, because there are so many things that can to tribute the nature of the complain! Example: If you record a song or say a jingle from say a casino machine or any particular sound that isn’t famous or hasn’t been copyrighted, can not be used against you in court, however in a video shot is different because the casino doesn’t want any body miss promoting or using their trademark name to your advantage, the sound recording I think anyone cares, because it isn’t and original work, but it always a good idea to have permission either way, and No the isn’t a law that can protect you from this,

 Q4: If I have a production company and one of my employee steals other “works” form someone else and uses that work in my company claim he did it and my company uses that work for the company and profits form it, can my company face an infringement can the a legal action sued fall under my company? Even thought the company it self didn’t take the works but the employer did? Does the phrase “work for hire “ fall under my obligation to repay the original creator of the works and be fine extra?

A: yes! Whatever your employee does at work to make profit for the company falls under the obligation of the company. Even if it not’s on contract, all material works that were created inside the company, belong to the company.  

Q5: Do I need permission or licenses to make or distribute music or audio files on the Internet for promotion or demonstration purposes only?  

A: Good question, most of the time, a license is needed for any distribution of music or materials, there are license that not necessary are music licenses but business licenses that let you do this sort of stuff, for promotional used most people don’t used one but, there are people that are paid to look for people who brake the law, and it’s a high risk place music for promotional use only, the most Important thing to do is to get permission from the creator.  

Q6: Are downloaded works over peer-to-peer networks violating Copyright law?

A: yes

Q7: What is the difference between a Provisional Patent Application and a Non-provisional Patent Application (Regular Patent)? 

A: A provisional patent is a patent that people use to protect their work, in case some one is working on a similar “work” it prevents others form trying to patent that same work,

A non-provisional patent is a patent that establishes the filing date of your patent application and begins the examination process In-order to receive a full patent.

 Q8: How can I prove that there has been an infringement on my copyright?

A: well the first thing to do is to have legal evidence of the Infringement and prove that the legal evidence is forgery.

 Q9: What’s your stand on keeping your work private?

A: To keep every thing a private, as you would in any life situation. There are laws that some employer has to obey when handling client’s personal documents, as is for music as well it important to have clients records clock up! And protected.  From anything!

Q: 10 Not too recently I ‘ve had a person contact me, about removing my artist name from a blog and service ad that I’ve place over the internet, stating that the name that I was using to promote and make business was already copyright by someone else (Artist), they suggest that I remove the Name immediately due to be copyrighted rights. But when I checked that the name could not be copyright I ignored the email, but was still a skeptical about the whole email thing! And looked for further information on the issue, I also check if it was trademarked but it could find the Name. What can I do or should done to prevent any legal action towards me? Or if the person that sends me that me

email was only trying to intimidate me, could I take legal action towards them for say falsification?  

A: Any name can be a trademark most trademarks are review before handed out, I wouldn’t worry so much, because most trademark names are big names large companies, and people that are well known have them to protect their interest. It the artist well knows?  Sort off!” maybe it only that there trying too bull-shit you!  I good suggestion is to have them send you a legal document certificated of the copyright or trademark, how long ago was this? Six months!  It would of been good, if you’ve contact me right away it a good idea to always contact a good lawyer and never let time pass by because they could of already taken legal action against  you, if they were just bull shiting you could taken legal action towards them but only if you can prove that they some how inflicted damages upon you, say; Ruin your business and you loss money, only then can you sued.

Week 7 EOC: Lawyers

1.       Borghese Legal, Ltd.

10161 Park Run Drive, Suite 150

Las Vegas, NV 89145

Tel (702) 382-0200

2.       Mc Donald & Carano  Las Vegas Office

2300 West Sahara Avenue Suite 1200

Las Vegas, Nevada 89102

Phone: (702) 873-4100 law group

3.       Weide & Miller, Ltd

Bank of Nevada Building

5th Floor, Suite 530

7251 West Lake Mead Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89128

(702)-382-4804 (Voice)

4.       watsonrounds

Las Vegas Office

Watson Rounds

10000 West Charleston Blvd., Ste. 240

Las Vegas, NV 89135

702.636.4902

5.     Bryce Earl

Cotton, Driggs, Walch, Holley, Woloson & Thompson

400 South Fourth Street, Third Floor

Las Vegas, NV 89101:                                                                                                                                                          702-791-0308

6.       Las Vegas Law Firm Keith E Gregory & Associates

631 S 10th St Suite 100

Las V egas Nevada, 702-398-0099

7.       The Bunker Law Group, PLLC

3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy.

Suite 200

Las Vegas, NV 89169

8.        bankruptcy lawyers                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Craig Friedberg  Las Vegas, NV Intellectual Property Lawyer

702.435.7968 4760 S. Pecos Rd.

Suite 103

Las Vegas, NV 89121      

9.        MC Law Group

Phone: 702-258-1093

6725 Vista  Parkway Ste. 230

Las Vegas, NV 89119