I'm thinking of creating a political parody website that may step on some toes and/or trademarks. I have a few technical and legal questions about how best to go about this. [more inside]
posted by Riki tiki on Dec 22, 2009 - 6 answers

i am (surprise surprise) into blogs. and before i was into blogs, i was into music. now i like to post mp3s to my blog. is it a bad idea to label which song/artist it is -- as in, are there really crazy music coppers who will show up on my doorstep to arrest me? [more inside]
posted by hagelslaag on Nov 27, 2009 - 18 answers

What happened to the US public performance rights for many Studio Ghibli (home of director Hayao Miyazaki) animated films? I'm trying to set up a film festival and no one seems to know who owns the rights.. is there any way to find out? [more inside]
posted by muscatlove on Aug 20, 2009 - 5 answers

What is the legality of making a site like www.instantboss.org or a movie sound board in the state of PA? [more inside]
posted by xdeliriumx on Jul 14, 2009 - 4 answers

Can translating literary works over the internet get me arrested? [more inside]
posted by howiamdifferent on Jan 7, 2009 - 12 answers

Can you really hold copyright to a business model/idea/concept, and disallow others from duplicating it? If not, then how is The Sampler able to do so? [more inside]
posted by divabat on Dec 21, 2007 - 26 answers

Is it possible to copyright a legal agreement? I'd like to do some cut and pasting of a few Terms of Service agreements but don't want to run afoul of the law.
posted by Pinwheel on Oct 17, 2007 - 24 answers

Can you help me find the original publisher of the educational short film featuring Rusty the narcoleptic dachsund? [more inside]
posted by scottandrew on Jun 29, 2007 - 4 answers

I've been asked to co-author a nonfiction book with a woman who is an expert in her field, but not a writer. I have some questions about contracts and rights to the material. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on May 26, 2007 - 6 answers

Is it possible to find out details pertaining to, or resulting from copyright lawsuits? [more inside]
posted by psyward on Nov 16, 2006 - 12 answers

Where can I find clear and direct laws regarding the playback of backed-up music at a place of business in the United States? [more inside]
posted by Dean Keaton on Apr 19, 2006 - 25 answers

Are there any problems with naming a band after other people's names -- people we don't know? [more inside]
posted by pealco on Apr 8, 2006 - 17 answers

I run a t-shirt site, and have received a "cease and desist" letter from Chuck Norris's lawyers. Anyone have experience with something like this? What are my rights? [more inside]
posted by thebbxx on Jan 30, 2006 - 30 answers

What are the legal implications of re-publishing full-text entries from another site's RSS feed? Planet sites do it for mostly legitimate purposes, and spam-logs do it for, well, spammy purposes. But are there any laws that apply? The US copyright code doesn't assume the information is already freely available on the internet, so it seems like a grey area. [more inside]
posted by Geektronica on Nov 14, 2005 - 13 answers

A project of mine has inovlved me creating a number of Sudoku puzzles. What is my position with regards to copyright? I have created, from scratch, a program that builds Sudoku grids. I don't actually build the grids myself, my program does. Do I still hold copyright on the generated grids? [more inside]
posted by gaby on Oct 15, 2005 - 22 answers

Yoink! John Walkenbach (J-walk) wrote a cute little thing for his site about something called Wifi Speed Spray. Recently he was alerted that not only had someone completely stolen his idea and put it in a ebay auction, they took the artwork and all. When John contacted the seller to ask him to cut it out, the guy refused, claiming that John couldn't prove he was the author. What does one do in the information age when someone completely rips you off, claims credit for what you wrote, and refuses to admit any wrong doing? [more inside]
posted by crunchland on Aug 11, 2005 - 14 answers

Related to an earlier question, but a local paper took one of my photos, altered it to remove my copyright mark, and then printed/posted it with an article. [more inside]
posted by Jase on Jul 21, 2005 - 27 answers

LyricsFilter:
I've seen the lyrics to a UK band's song posted on a blog hosted in the US, without a copyright notice or a 'with permission' blurb. Is that legally OK in the US?
Previous search of ask.me questions reveal little.
posted by dash_slot- on Nov 21, 2004 - 12 answers

Copyright vs. Satire: How far can one extend the 'fair use' or satire legalities when it comes to using similar imagery in advertisement? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by BrodieShadeTree on Nov 9, 2004 - 7 answers

Lawyerfilter: I'm curious about the legality of replicating content (designs, catchphrases, etc) from a given medium into another. For example, I love the "Real Genius"-inspired shirts that founditemclothing.com is producing ( "I Love Toxic Waste," "International Order for Gorillas," and "Surf Nicaragua,") but I'm wondering if it's permissible under the law. Thanks in advance to anyone willing and able to take a stab at explaning it.
posted by Sinner on Oct 26, 2004 - 8 answers

Can anyone direct me to a site detailing current treatments of the legality of music sharing and downloading?
posted by Phatty Lumpkin on May 23, 2004 - 2 answers

AskLegalFilter: As a sort of follow-up to this thread, some friends and I have invented a game and have started to show it to representatives from game companies. There's been some interest, and before we can think about moving forward, I think we have to start with the legal stuff on our end. What sort of legal entity do my friends and I need to become so that someone can license intellectual property (mostly writing, as opposed to a unique style of play) from us and write us checks? And how can we do it for the least cost? Assume that we're more or less equal partners (somewhere between 33/33/33 and 35/35/30).
posted by blueshammer on May 3, 2004 - 11 answers