Daniel Nathan Ballard's Answers

Cease and desist letter received from Getty Images for possible copyright infringement

This issue is straightforward. The product that Getty Images, Inc. sells is photographs. Its photographs are taken by people who, in exchange for money, assign to Getty their rights in their photographs. The photographers are, therefore, compensated for their work and can go about their business of taking more photographs -- which is a good thing for our society (thanks Getty). Getty protects its product by doing what every business does: it takes measures to make sure that its products are...

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Can I put famous landmarks and quotes on t-shirts and sell them

You need to consider at least three intellectual property issues: 1. As Oscar notes, if you don't create each "design" yourself then you need permission from whoever owns the copyright in the design (i.e. the drawing or photograph) to lawfully reproduce and distribute it on your tee shirts. Creating all of the designs yourself is the safest route. If you can't create them then you could hire someone to do so. If you do, you'll need to enter into a written agreement with that person...

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A big company is using a trademark (unregistered) so they're operating under common law rights. They had tried to file federally

Trademarks are NOT registered. What may be registered are THE RIGHTS created in the mark by the use of the mark in commerce. No use, no rights to register. So, no, you cannot sneak into the Trademark Office and "register a trademark" that someone else is already using and then offer to sell that person your registration. That is not only morally repugnant it is not possible under the law.

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Started an internet business, and am working to spend capital frugally, should I allocate money to patent and or trademark?

The FIRST step before doing business is to make sure that you're not traipsing on someone else's rights. Your "creative and different concept of transaction" may already be patented by someone else. Assuming that you've already scoured the publicly-accessible websites and found no such "transaction" mechanism there are still many, many non-public websites that may use what you, at the moment, think of as your invention. Moreover, there is no requirement for a patent owner to put in...

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What state has jurisdiction over internet defamation?

You've already received very good information regarding how to think through where the suit must be filed. The other issue, however, is which state's law will be applied when considering the merits of your defamation claim: California's defamation law or Georgia's defamation law? This "choice of law" issue needs to be thought through very early on because the two state's laws are significantly different [for example, to receive punitive damages under Georgia's law the allegedly defamed...

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Can an attorney or law firm own and operate a mugshot posting website?

Step one in this scheme is to acquire a digital copy of the photographs. You must do that lawfully. The copyright in each of the photographs of the people arrested is owned by the state or local law enforcement authority that took the photograph. For you to lawfully reproduce and publish any such photograph the authority that took it must either dedicate it to the public domain or grant you a license under its copyright. You're going to need to do a lot of legwork to acquire those...

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Online Raffle Business

The below does not constitute legal advice, does not form an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied upon to take or refrain from taking any action. Raffles are regulated by gambling laws that vary greatly from state to state. The fundamental rule is that a raffle is illegal if it constitutes a "lottery." A lottery has three elements: prize, chance, and consideration. Put differently, a lottery is a game in which something of value (usually money) is exchanged for a...

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Do I have a good patent lawsuit case? Is it worth 1.5 Mil?

Emerson spoke for all contemplative souls when he noted that "All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients." Concepts, thoughts, ideas, mental meanderings -- mindstuff -- no longer "belong" to their creators once disclosed. Unless an idea-recipient expressly agrees [in writing or perhaps orally or by conduct] that he or she will not commercially exploit the idea offered by the idea-submitter, then the idea floats in the ether free for all to enjoy and use. So ... you need to take...

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Is it possible to sue someone for stealing your idea of a username?

Q: Is it possible to sue someone for stealing your idea of a username? R: Not only no; h*ll no. "Stealing an idea?" Really? You "came up with" -- let's say -- OofyGoofy as a name. You told someone. They liked it and used it commercially [i.e., to make money]. So, without question, that person benefited off the name that you created. You don't like that. You want a piece of that action. But why are entitled to any? Before you told the person of your nifty OofyGoofy name did...

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Is it copyright infringement to use pictures of myself that I found online from google search?

While it's normally true that the person who takes a photograph owns its copyright there are many, many situations [especially in Los Angeles] where the copyright is owned by: (1) the person's employer or (2) the company that owns the publication or website that bought the rights to the photograph [paparazzi typically sell all their rights]. So if you want to copy and display a photograph of yourself you should first contact the publication where the photograph was published and ask...

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