Copyright law can be a bit convoluted, but occasionally, the legislature does things that actually simplify life. One thing they did was to make all the copyrights expire on December 31 rather than throughout the year. The 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act gave works published or registered before 1978 a 95-year term, expiring on January … Read more
Last week, I mentioned that while we can’t control others, we can and must control ourselves. We have to understand our strengths, weakness, and desires, then we need to use those to figure out what to do. As we discussed several weeks ago, not everything is equal. Some things have to come ahead of others … Read more
As I said in the last blog post I enjoyed the interviews that I had with my co-workers, with them I was able to learn much about their lives and what they are all about. I also learned about what the world of law is like and how to navigate it. As a sixteen-year-old interested … Read more
I recently read an article about the “Milk Carton Rule.” The story goes that if a person keeps leaving a bottle of milk out, stop expecting them to do otherwise. Once you do that, you will “solve the real problem” and buy a second bottle of milk so you always have non-spoiled milk. The article … Read more
Copyright ownership is often referred to as a “bundle of rights.” In other words, when you own the copyright on a particular artistic work, you not only own the right to copy and sell the work, but also the right to create derivative works (modifications or new expressions, based on the original), perform the work … Read more
Our summer clerk comes through again to explain why certain Madison venues are the way they are. He may not appreciate all of the great winter activities available in our fair state and city, but he makes up for it by explaining some of our city’s quirks. Summertime is an excellent time (and one of … Read more
Joseph Beckmann, our intrepid summer law clerk, had a question, “Why are some buildings ADA compliant and others not?” And so a research project and blog post came to be! Enjoy the fruits of his labor. When businesses look to move into a space or look to construct a new building , one of the … Read more
We file a lot of trademarks here at OG+S. At the most basic level, a trademark allows you the right to exclude someone else from using your name or logo – and also allows you to exclude someone from using a name or logo that is close (or kinda close) to your protected name or logo. … Read more
We are revisiting your civics courses in elementary and high school in the next few weeks in order to set up a discussion about copyright law. It is a bit of a meandering walk to get to a point, but I think the views along the way are important and will help make the final … Read more
