Civil trial in CA?: I am 1 of 2 defendants and have trial date in 1,5 months. Another defendant is corporation that filed answer, but currently unrepresented. Plaintiff filed motion to strike answer under ccp 435, 436. How opposite to this? And what other important documents I need to file with court before trial? All advices will be highly appreciated.
Robert’s answer: The corporate entity needs to be represented by counsel, as corporations cannot represent themselves in court. Is it your corporation, and are you also unrepresented? If you provide me with some more detail I'll try and point you in the right direction.
Can I sell a design that's based off a product?: I designed a t-shirt that is an outline of a car. Is that in violation of IP law?
Robert’s answer:
Generally, art you create is protected. Just like you can take a photograph of traffic and sell it to the newspapers, or a picture of your favorite '65 Mustang and put it up in the gallery for sale, you can draw the outline of a car, and you own the copyright in that artwork - which you are then free to put on a tee shirt and sell.
The one caveat to that is that some car-makers do have trademarks in connection with their cars. For example, the word MUSTANG has been trademarked by Ford, as has the mustang running-horse logo. Other car-makers may have trademarked distinctive design elements of their cars as trade dress, but you would have to do a thorough search of the TESS database to determine this.
When in doubt, take your drawing to a competent local IP lawyer to vet before you go into production of the tee shirts. If you just are drawing the outline of a generic car, you're fine, but if you are drawing Mercedes station wagons in detail, you're going to have to check that Mercedes doesn't have trademarks on use of car designs on tee shirts, etc.
Very truly yours,
Robert Lawrence
Can i sue my ex job for using my picture in a tv commercial?: i was involved in a grand theft case at work few years ago, i did plead guilty, and paid everything back, got 3 years probation and misdemeanor. now just find out that company is using my picture for a advertising comercial on tv.. can i sue them?
Robert’s answer: Unless your employment agreement states otherwise or you voluntarily consented to having your face used for a company advertisement, then the short answer is "No, the company can't legally use your image." If you filed a lawsuit, you could plausibly state a claim for a violation of your publicity rights under Cal. Civil Code Section 3344, but the problem is going to be damages. Unless you are licensing or marketing your likeness somewhere and the court can put a value on how much you charge for that (e.g., if you were a model for Head & Shoulders, etc.), it's difficult to quantify how much your case is worth. However, a cease and desist letter requiring the company to remove your likeness, and an informal demand for payment for past use of the photograph may be something a lawyer would be willing to do for you. I would advise you to schedule a consultation with a reputable local IP lawyer (or business lawyer) and see what they think your best course of action would be.