Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won |
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© Copyright Law & Definitions © |
To understand the law, one must understand how the courts function. Court decisions revolve around precedent, that is, those decisions
that have come before determine how the court will rule on an issue today. When you read a court decision you will see many references to
past court cases as a basis for the statements and opinions being made. More more complicated the court case the more other cases that will be cited.
Court are loathe to reverse a long-standing decision. To do so would create an instability in the law and the application of the law.
Federal law is applied a little unevenly across the many federal circuits with the 9th Circuit being the most liberal and unpredictable. But Supreme Court decisions are expected to be followed in all circuits. Many facets of the law are applied based upon Supreme Court decisions that are over a hundred years old. The courts simply do not revisit established law without extraordinary reasons. Some people who disagree with the content of these pages argue that there are no recent court decisions concerning some of the basic aspects of cited copyright law. Once a principle has been clearly established by the Supreme Court and without a material change in the statutes, courts will continue to follow the ruling even if it is from a hundred years ago.
Copyright law is being misinterpreted by a lot of people; accidentally by some and deliberately by others. It isn't as fuzzy an area
as trademark law.
There are a lot of on-line sales sites that are infringing upon trademarks and copyrights. Many sites openly sell "replicas", which by definition are infringing.
We do not endorse infringement. These pages are designed as a reference for those who are not infringing or those who are not sure that they are.
There is an increasing number of companies and corporate lawyers who are trying to exploit unknowing and unwilling infringers. Beware.
The first major error is those who believe that if they write it, or photograph it, it is automatically theirs and no one else can use it.
There are some really big flaws in this approach:
There are a lot of people who think copyright gives them something more than they actually get. A lot of these people are designers and artists who want to believe
they are getting more from copyright than they are really getting. Copyright protection is not as complicated as people think provided you look at from the legal
perspective rather than from the personal desire perspective.
We do not agree with all of the opinions or conclusions stated in all of the following articles referenced in the following categories.
We have attempted to present different sides of the arguments as we have found them. We only present information we consider to be well argued and factually
supported. We do not take credit for the information presented. The great majority of it is gleaned from other sources. In many cases we credit the originator.
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Areas of Copyright Law & Definitions |
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General Articles | Cease and Desist Letters | Federal Court Cases | FAQs & Whines | Glossary | Hall Of Shame | Contributions
Corporate Lawyers |
Definitions |
Federal Court Cases Alphabetically | by Federal Circuit | by Subject | by Court Quotations |
Federal Statutes Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22 |
VeRO (Verified Right's Owner Program) VeRO Commandments | VeRO-Verified Rights Owners Program | Counter Notice Letter Counter Notice (pre-2003) | Counter Notice present | On-Line Survey from 2004 | Articles about VeRO | What To Do If You Are Veroed |
Original material by Karen Dudnikov & Michael Meadors is © 1999-2019 |
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