What if the person being created, i.e. star, is deceased?

Great question. The answer depends on a number of factors, where the celebrity resided at the time of his or her death and the year in which the...

You are wise to think ahead on this. Depending on the facts, (nature of the exhibition, museum, names, etc.) you could get led into a grey area of...

Are the songs from the French artist Fréhel public domain?

Yes, A U.S. copyright lawyer can research and determine the status of the French copyright, and the particular song you are interested in. If...

Would I be infringing on copy rights to write a book about a character mentioned only in passing in another book from the 1920s?

Assuming the copyright in the book is still valid (most copyrights before 1923 have expired) there is a great body of case law establishing when...

Can I use this phrase on a car sticker? "Personal Foul...Rooting For Dallas".

After conducting a trademark search and confirming no similar marks, go for it.

Can I get a NDA for a new sharing-economy app/website start-up similar to Airbnb?

Potential investors will have different policies toward NDAs. Also, different kinds of NDAs will be treated differently by different recipients of...

Can i safely expose (share) my original song to music publishers and others during the copyright submission process?

The registration is effective retroactive to the date you filed it. Nearly having a registered Rate is no guarantee that it will not be ripped...

Unfortunately, no. There is no funeral exception to copyright law. If YouTube's robots detect the song, the posting will be blocked automatically....

I am so sorry for your loss. You could run it by the licensing Dept. at DC Comics to avoid any uncertainty, but it would neither confuse consumers...

Trademark laws have no extra-territorial effect. So Russia's TM laws only apply in Russia. As long as you are not selling or advertising in Russia,...