MY BUSINESS PLAN: Negotiate the rights to make apparel with images from a movie that is coming out in a couple of years. The movie distributor has the authority over these rights. EXAMPLE: So, say the movie was Spiderman, I would want to acquire the rights from Sony Pictures to make Spiderman t-shirts, jackets, caps, etc and then sell them to distributors, wholesalers and retailers. WHAT I NEED: Tips from insiders how to put my best foot forward in making this proposal to the movie distributor. [more inside]
posted by seatofmypants on Jul 1, 2009 - 5 answers

I have written a number of songs that I have gotten copyrighted through the US Copyright Office. Each copyright runs between $35-$45 to have done. If I change the lyrics or add a verse to one of my songs, do I have to go through the whole process again to re-copyright the updated version of the song including paying the fee, or I am still safe because the original song is copyrighted?
posted by hdh on Apr 16, 2009 - 14 answers

First question posted. Hope you can help :-) Together with a friend we are working on writing some online educational materials. As part of this we want to use snippets of commercially available songs and their lyrics (up to 60 seconds) and make them available on our website for streaming (not downloading!). Learners pay for access to the site (on a cost-recovery basis). Learners would access the site from many different countries. We've been trying to find out how to deal with the musical rights issues but don't know who to contact and who to pay, especially since our learners will be from all around the world. How do we find out if, and if so where, we need to pay to whom, and what? Thanks!
posted by sinbarambam on Sep 25, 2008 - 8 answers

Is it permissible to transcribe TV shows and post said transcripts on the web? [more inside]
posted by crickets on May 9, 2007 - 8 answers

Could I copyright or trademark my full name and social security number and would that be an effective strategy in protecting my privacy and reducing unauthorized use of my personal information? [more inside]
posted by Xurando on Nov 13, 2006 - 16 answers

How does copyright work when the material is in a library? Specifically, I'm thinking of the contents of a CD-ROM that is supplied with a book on computer skills. There are presets on the CD that the owner of the book can install and use in the program under discussion, and these are copyrighted. But the book is in the library... Can I use the presets as a borrower?
posted by dpcoffin on Oct 17, 2006 - 4 answers

Has anyone tried to fight the RIAA and Movie Studios by arguing that copyrights can be interpreted laterally instead of just horizontally? [more inside]
posted by trinarian on Apr 17, 2005 - 19 answers

What should be done (if anything) about a site that is capitalizing on my site's distinctive name and search engine ranking to popularize itself in a way that is totally unrelated to my site?

I run an RSS feed directory with a distinctive name, reasonably good content, and a decent rank in various search engines. Last night a "watch" application told me that 2 new sites now contain my site's domain name in their URLs.

I took a look at both of these sites, and they are simply embedding my domain name in their URLs so that they have a chance of matching on searches for the name. The actual pages are throwaway filler (as is the entire site).

I'm flattered and insulted.

My site's name is not a trademark (perhaps it should be), and I don't want to draw artificial attention to it by posting a link, and I certainly don't want to link to the offending sites.

Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? What can be done?
posted by jeffbarr on Aug 25, 2004 - 0 answers

I'm proofreading an OCR file of a 25-year-old book, and after I fixed it up the company (whose history it is) said I had to put back in all the original (non-OCR) mistakes (words spelled wrong, incorrect tenses, text inconsistencies, semicolons used miserably) for copyright reasons. I told them it's their copyright, and they can do whatever they want with it. No, they say, it's a historical record. It's also their money, so I'll do whatever they want . . . but are they right? Are misspelled words and poor punctuation a copyright issue? [more inside]
posted by LeLiLo on Apr 28, 2004 - 19 answers