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Intellectual property law and examples

Best Intellectual Property Lawyers

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Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Lawyer

Our intellectual property lawyers help shield, protect, and keep you safeguarded under the law. We keep our prices and costs low because we know that many other intellectual property lawyers tend to inflate their fees as IP lawyers.

 

Wise Laws best intellectual property lawyers can help you guard, license, and enforce your intellectual property rights. We handle a high capacity of trademark and copyright registrations as well as bring and protect intellectual property lawsuits. We also protect individuals threatened with copyright infringement lawsuits dealing with peer to peer networks and the bit torrent sites.

 

Tallahassee Intellectual Property Lawyers – Orlando Intellectual Property Lawyers – Dallas Intellectual Property Lawyers – Fort Worth Intellectual Property Lawyers – Honolulu Intellectual Property Lawyers – Boise Intellectual Property Lawyers – Bismarck Intellectual Property Lawyers – Grafton Intellectual Property Lawyers – Raleigh Intellectual Property Lawyers – Durham Intellectual Property Lawyers – Santa Fe Intellectual Property Lawyers – Albuquerque Intellectual Property Lawyers – Albany Intellectual Property Lawyers – Phoenix Intellectual Property Lawyers – Peoria Intellectual Property Lawyers – Las Vegas Intellectual Property Lawyers – Louisville Intellectual Property Lawyers – Little Rock Intellectual Property Lawyers – Los Angeles Intellectual Property Lawyers – Miami Intellectual Property Lawyers – Des Moines Intellectual Property Lawyers – New Haven Intellectual Property Lawyers – Indianapolis Intellectual Property Lawyers – Detroit Intellectual Property Lawyers – Joplin Intellectual Property Lawyers – Biloxi Intellectual Property Lawyers – Oklahoma City Intellectual Property Lawyers – Portland Intellectual Property Lawyers – Sioux Falls Intellectual Property Lawyers –Nashville Intellectual Property Lawyers – Memphis Intellectual Property Lawyers – Houston Intellectual Property Lawyers – Tacoma Intellectual Property Lawyers – Minneapolis Intellectual Property Lawyers – Provo Intellectual Property Lawyers – Tulsa Intellectual Property Lawyers – Annapolis Intellectual Property Lawyers – Sacramento Intellectual Property Lawyers – Denver Intellectual Property Lawyers – Charlotte Intellectual Property Lawyers – Boston Intellectual Property Lawyers – Olympia Intellectual Property Lawyers – Atlanta Intellectual Property Lawyers – Santa Monica Intellectual Property Lawyers – Malibu Intellectual Property Lawyers – Tucson Intellectual Property Lawyers – Scottsdale Intellectual Property Lawyers – Beverly Hills Intellectual Property Lawyers – Boca Raton Intellectual Property Lawyers

 

Intellectual property has encouraged business development while concurrently creating a possible minefield of legal battles and predicaments. The multilayered process of identifying, protecting, defending, maximizing and enforcing intellectual property rights requires a multidisciplinary method, and our intellectual property lawyers have the knowledge needed to supply results.

 

Some Topics Our American Intellectual Property Lawyers Can Handle:

 

  • American Copyrights registration, licensing & protection
  • American Copyright Applications
  • American Trademarks registration, licensing & protection
  • American Trademark Applications
  • American Trade Secret protection
  • Freedom to Operate Analyses
  • Infringement or Non Infringement Opinions
  • American Patent Applications
  • American International IP Law

 

A patent application has often been noted by lawyers as the most complex and layered legal document to prepare and put together because it must conform to strict legal guidelines and regulations, so as to result a patent in America and beyond is valid and enforceable.

 

American Copyright Law

We have dealt with wide range of Angie copyright issues concerning software, digital music, publishing, kid books, graphic design, and more. Copyright law awards a copyright owner a set of exclusive rights to his or her appearance of an idea or information. American copyright may survive in a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, comprising poems, plays, novels, movies, musical compositions and recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and software.

 

American Copyright Law Issues

 

  • American Copyright registration, licensing and protection
  • American Copyright litigation
  • American Drafting work-made-for-hire agreements
  • American Licensing agreements
  • American Publishing contracts
  • American Distribution agreements
  • American Digital Millennium Copyright Act Lawyers
  • American Music clearance Lawyers

 

American Copyright Infringement

American copyright infringement occurs when the unlawful use of the protected work violates the rights of the owner. American copyright infringement has come to be very problem oriented with the introduction of the Internet. Before the web American copyright infringement was much easier to catch.

 

American Trademarking Lawyers

We have knowledge dealing with all stages of American trademark selection, protection, and enforcement and we have operated on American trademark issues in a wide range of businesses including software companies, web businesses, pharmaceutical companies, and restaurants. Whether you are getting ready to a launch a business in America or a product or you have been operating for years, American trademark protection of your company, product name, design, color, slogans or packaging is crucial.

 

For more specific about trademarks please contact our American Trademark Lawyers

American Patent Lawyer Process

If you have established an invention and seek to protect and guard it, you need an knowledgeable American patent lawyer licensed with the state and shown with the United States Patent and Trademark Office USPTO who can escort you through the patenting procedure. Your American patent application will either be a Utility, Design, Plant, or Provisional Application. During our Angie patent law session, we will inform you as to which type of application is correct for your invention.

Bankruptcy, Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Largest lawsuit against an auditor goes to court for $5.5 billion

Colonial Bank in Miami Beach, on August 17, 2009, days after it failed. The bank’s fraud with Taylor, Bean & Whitaker is the subject of a lawsuit against its auditor, PricewaterhouseCooper, which failed to catch the fraud for seven years. John VanBeekum Miami Herald

The largest-ever lawsuit against an auditing firm is set to open Monday in a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, pitting Big Four firm PwC against a trustee of the defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation.

At stake: $5.5 billion.

The lawsuit was filed in 2013 by a trust formed following the bankruptcy of Ocala-based Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, which in the early 2000s was one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies. The firm was raided by federal agents in 2009 for its part in a seven-year, multibillion-dollar fraud scheme with Colonial BancGroup.

According to the lawsuit, the fraud went undetected by PwC, the independent public auditor in charge of auditing Colonial, as a result of “gross negligence.”

The $5.5 billion action is one of a wave of suits against major auditing firms, including PwC, in the aftermath of the 2009 banking crisis. Most have alleged faulty work, said Jonathan Perlman, equity partner at Miami-based firm Genovese Joblove & Battista, who has prosecuted several cases against auditing firms. A majority of the cases have settled, including a suit brought against PwC for the alleged negligent auditing of failed brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd. PwC paid $65 million in a settlement.

Few of the suits have gone to trial, Perlman said.

Still, Steven Thomas, lead trial lawyer for the trust, said he is confident this suit will succeed.

Thomas, who has has obtained several multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts in cases involving negligent audits, said PwC’s alleged negligence is the “worst” of any case he’s had.

As early as 2002, six top executives at Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, including chairman Lee Farkas, colluded with two executives at Colonial to sign off on mortgage sales that didn’t exist. Colonial financed Taylor, Bean & Whitaker’s mortgages, but in order to bypass the federal lending limit, Colonial started registering loans from the mortgage company as sales instead.

Circumventing the lending limits allowed the fraud to grow exponentially as executives at each company worked to falsify documents and computer entries and shift money between Colonial bank accounts. Both Colonial and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker were raided on Aug. 3, 2009, and later filed for bankruptcy, leading to the sixth-largest banking failure in U.S. history.

Farkas was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Catherine Kissick at Colonial, who worked most closely with Farkas, received eight years in prison as part of a plea deal.

 

Blog, Business Law, Legal News

Why Ed Sheeran should be worried about allegedly copying a Marvin Gaye song

Remember the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit? Well, it set a precedent.

By Danielle Cheesman

To all the brides and grooms who chose Ed Sheeran‘s 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” to serve as the soundtrack to their first dance, your marriage is doomed.

Just kidding.

But the track’s legacy is at risk of being tarnished. The song—which was the first to ever to hit 500 million streams on Spotify and won Song of the Year at this year’s Grammy Awards—is being sued by the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote and created the musical composition of Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On,” for copyright infringement of the 1973 classic.

How so, you might ask, since it samples no beat and borrows no lyrics?

Because of its “heart.” No, really.

Hip-Hop celebrates the life of Marvin Gaye with samples

According to Reuters, the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, claims that “the Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of ‘Let’s’ and repeated it continuously throughout ‘Thinking.’ The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of ‘Thinking’ are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of ‘Let’s.'”

While this may sound like a reach, what Sheeran has working against him is that Gaye grip. The force they flex.

While the Gaye family is not technically involved in Townsend’s suit against Sheeran, let’s not forget that their estate won $7.3 million last year in their lawsuit filed against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over the duo’s “Blurred Lines” smash, a song they alleged soundedtoo similar to Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.”

In that case, Williams and Thicke dismissed the family’s argument,writing that “the basis of the Gaye defendants’ claims is that ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Got To Give It Up’ ‘feel’ or ‘sound’ the same. Being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement.”

Well, their $7.3 million loss says otherwise.

And it became the record high judgment in a copyright infringement suit. So that’s saying something.

A real, authorized Marvin Gaye documentary is finally coming

“Blurred Lines” didn’t go down without a fight though. Back when it was released, even Questlove tried to weigh in with his support for his fellow contemporaries, telling Vulture:

“I’m siding with Robin Thicke; I’m going against the estate of Marvin Gaye. Look, technically it’s not plagiarized. It’s not the same chord progression. It’s a feeling. Because there’s a cowbell in it and a fender Rhodes as the main instrumentation — that still doesn’t make it plagiarized. We all know it’s derivative. That’s how Pharrell works. Everything that Pharrell produces is derivative of another song — but it’s an homage. If it were a case of melodic plagiarism, I would definitely side with the estate. But in this case…I’m still siding with Pharrell and Robin on this one.”

Note Quest’s use of the word “feeling.”

And note this writer’s use of it, as well. Here’s how SPIN‘s Andrew Unterberger—who noticed the similarities over a year ago, before anyone else (and maybe even Townsend) did—wrote about the two current songs in question:

“[‘Thinking Out Loud’] is also an incredibly obvious successor to Marvin Gaye’s 1973 superlative slow jam ‘Let’s Get It On’ — the gently loping four-note bass pattern and crisp ’70s soul drums absolutely smack of the Gaye classic, as do the embrace-insistent lyrics and general candlelit-bedroom feel.”

There it is again.

The point is, Williams and Thicke had to pay up. And if this new precedent set is all about vibesss, there’s a good chance Sheeran will too.

Full Article – https://revolt.tv/stories/2016/08/10/ed-sheeran-worried-allegedly-copying-marvin-gaye-song-8a3ce18fb7

Business Law, Criminal, Legal News

Kesha Drops Her Lawsuit Against Dr. Luke

by

After a long and heartbreaking legal battle, Kesha has decided to drop her lawsuit against Dr. Luke. Daniel Petrocelli, a member of the singer’s legal team, told Us Weekly in a statement on Monday that Kesha put an end to the ordeal in order to focus on releasing new music. “Kesha has dismissed her California action without prejudice while she pursues her appeal and other legal claims in the New York courts,” Daniel explained. “Kesha is focused on getting back to work and has delivered 28 new songs to the record label. We have conveyed to Sony Music and the label Kesha’s strong desire to release the single and an album as soon as possible.” Kesha spoke out about her decision on Monday, tweeting that her “fight continues,” while Dr. Luke’s attorney, Christine Lepera, claimed that the lawsuit was dropped because the singer “has no chance of winning.”

Kesha first filed a lawsuit against the music producer in October 2015, alleging that he’d emotionally and sexually abused her and manipulated her career. Numerous celebrities, including Lady Gaga, came forward to support Kesha in the wake of the shocking news. However, in April 2016, a judge threw out her claims, saying she was being “unreasonable.” Despite the singer’s dramatic year, check out 12 quotes that prove she’s always been a warrior.

 

Blog, Business Law, Drug Companies, Legal News

Big Pharma Promotes Legal Drug Addiction

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Big Pharma Promotes Legal Drug Addiction

Many of us believe that Big Pharma must be held accountable for this dangerous opioid trend, especially since several have been caught lying about the benefits and risks of their drugs.

As noted by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), the drug industry has “fostered the opioid addiction epidemic” in several ways, by:

  1. Introducing long-acting opioid painkillers like OxyContin, which prior to reformulation in 2010 could be snorted or shot. Many addicts claimed the high from OxyContin was better than heroin. In fact, from a chemical standpoint, OxyContin is nearly identical to heroin, and has been identified as a major gateway drug to heroin.
  2. Changing pain prescription guidelines to make opioids the first choice for lower back and other pain conditions that previously did not qualify for these types of drugs. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has had a hand in this problem, although it restricted its promotion of narcotic painkillers to cancer patients.
  3. Promoting long-term use of opioids, even though there’s no evidence that using these drugs long term is safe and effective
  4. Downplaying and misinforming doctors and patients about the addictive nature of opioid drugs. OxyContin, for example, became a blockbuster drug mainly through misleading claims, which Purdue Pharma knew were false from the start. The basic promise was that it provided pain relief for a full 12 hours, twice as long as generic drugs, giving patients “smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night.”However, for many the effects do not last anywhere near 12 hours, and once the drug wears off, painful withdrawal symptoms set in, including body aches, nausea and anxiety. These symptoms, in addition to the return of the original pain, quickly begin to feed the cycle of addiction.7

A 2015 article in The Week does a great job revealing the promotional strategy developed by Purdue, and backed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that has led to such enormous personal tragedy.

As noted in this article: “The time-release conceit even worked on the FDA, which stated that ‘Delayed absorption, as provided by OxyContin tablets is believed to reduce the abuse liability of a drug.’”

Other recent research has found that medical marijuana lowers prescription drug use.

The Big Q: Could that be why it hasn’t been rescheduled?

There are no other truly compelling reasons why addictive narcotics like OxyContin are legal, while marijuana, which is extremely unlikely to kill even if one take very high amounts is not.

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Read Full Article – http://www.livetradingnews.com/big-pharma-promotes-legal-drug-addiction-10406.html#.V6F8KZMrKRs