Week 11 Final Evaluation: Forced Choice

I have read everyones final project blog and for those who completed the did admirable in my opinion. But we all can not be number one so the following is who I feel did the best work and those who did not quite get what the project was about. They will be order from the best to worst:

Lee, Sean Anthony http://primarydesign702.blogspot.com
Chambers, Everett Warren http://vegasinteriors.blogspot.com
Hardy, Tyrone http://cajogi.blogspot.com
Bowman, Robert B. http://bowmanlifestudios.blogspot.com
Howard, Brett Carroll http://accudraft45.blogspot.com
Lucero, Chelsea Elizabeth http://chelzzlucero.blogspot.com
Valencia, Eduardo http://eduardov425.blogspot.com
Uy, Maria Feinila D. http://madeirich.blogspot.com
Terheide, Melinda M http://terheidedesigns.blogspot.com
Angel, Renferd K http://angelaudioproduction.blogspot.com
Schmidt, Chase M. http://colorblindproduction.blogspot.com
Orton, David Wayne http://vemg.blogspot.com
Smith, Cary Keola http://kotcc.blogspot.com
Hearty, Raymond http://raygamepro.blogspot.com
Cordova, Jake Charles http://jakenstein151.blogspot.com

My own argument and opinions

I find myself at a lost for an argument  and believe me that is rare. However, I do have opinions about the final project. I have to wonder if when did humans lose their humanity? Not that I was every blind to the evils of the world but I am talking about the core decency we should have for one another. That a person ideas,opinions, and philosophy's matter and should be respected. I do not begrudge a person a opportunity to make a living but when that infringes on someone else ideas and creation we as homosapiens (the top of the food chain) should be outraged by the injustice. All semester long we have talked about lawyers and how depraved they are as a professionals. I have to admit until I took this class I never really thought about lawyers other than what I see on tv and those lawyers are always standing up for peoples rights. Now my rose colored glasses are off because of this class and I realize that there are a lot more villains than heroes practicing law. Did the law make most of them demented and only out for themselves? Or was it there within them all along and the law just brought to the surface? I know our judicial system is not perfect. Sometimes innocent people are jailed and the guilty go free. The law is suppose to protect us and our rights and more often than not it winds up being a sword that someone with more money can use to stab us. The biggest thing I will take away from this class is watch my back (in the legal sense) because if given the chance people will try to take what is yours and use it for their own. I also have learned is to not be the victim when it comes my intellectual property. I learned that I need to use the law as a shield to protect my ideas before someone else can use it as a sword to destroy them.

Rule of Law

I am not really sure what I am suppose to be discussing under a heading call Rule of Law as it pertains to future career endeavors. According to the instructions on e-class this part is suppose to contain " a concise summary of the main precedent established". However, I did not establish or make mention of any precedents in my phone interview with Mr Van Looper. It also seems in reading others blogs that there is no clear consensus on what this particular blog is suppose to be informing the reader. So I am gonna go out on limb and say that the one main "Rule of Law" that we have had for this class is if you have any legal question about patents, copyrights, and trademarks you should retain legal council. The reason being is that laws change frequently depending on the mood of the country. Also the fact that this the 11th edition by NOLO  means laws have changed since the first edition came out.

The text discusses some precedents established by court cases. Festo v. Shoketsu in 2000, a case involing a patent on parts used in a robotic arms a federal court of appeals ruled that a patent owner could not assert the doctrine of equivalents if the patent claim at issue had been amended during the application process (page 66 of the text). Another case (that is referenced on page 73 of text) Graham v. John Deere, the Supreme Court case created the guidelines for determining when an invention is nonobvious.  I mention these two cases to say that the "Rule of Law" is  change and it happens everyday

Reason of the Law

Since my conversation with Mr. Van Looper was very matter of fact and to the point. I did not really get a chance to ask what his company's train of thought process was a they put together the website. I did however called back and asked the how did they validate their information that they posted. The receptionist was very she put me on hold for approximately 7 minutes. I assume she had asked a lawyer in the office for the source of the information. She stated that all information gathered from current documentation released by five sources the United States Copyright Office, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Federal Trade Commission, World Intellectual Property Organization, and the United States Department of Commerce. So allow me remind everyone what those offices functions are as stated in our text Patent, Copyright, & Trademark 11th ed. published by NOLO and other websites.

The United States Copyright Office (as stated by the text on page 317) is a branch of the Library of Congress-oversees the implementation of the federal copyright laws. It issues regulations, processes applications for registration of copyrights, and accepts (for some types of works) stores deposits made in connection with registration. The U.S. Copyright Office also issues opinions on whether certain types of items are subject to copyright protection.

The United State Patent and Trademark Office (as stated by the text on 139) is an administrative branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is charged with the responsibility for overseeing and implementing the federal laws on patent and trademarks. Also known as the USPTO or Patent Office, this agency is responsible for examining, issuing, classifying, and maintaining records of all patents issued by the United States.

The Federal Trade Commission was established as an independent administrative agency pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The purpose of the FTC is to enforce the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce." The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) also granted the FTC the authority to act against specific and unfair monopolistic practices. The FTC is considered to be a law enforcement agency, and like other such agencies it lacks punitive authority. Although the FTC cannot punish violators—that is the responsibility of the judicial system—it can issue cease and desist orders and argue cases in federal and administrative courts. (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Federal_Trade_Commission.aspx)

The World Intellectual Property Organzation (as stated by the text on page 572) was formed to facilitate international agreements regulating intellectual property. WIPO is a policy-making body only, with no delegated authority to make binding decisions or impose sanctions.

The United States Department of Commerce  has a broad mandate to advance economic growth and jobs and opportunities for the American people. It has cross cutting  responsibilities in the areas of trade, technology, entrepreneurship, economic development, environmental stewardship and statistical research and analysis.(http://www.commerce.gov/about-department-commerce)

The Questions

In talking to Mr. Van Looper I asked him to confirm answers on some general questions about intellectual property. Intellectual property (as defined in our text Patent, Copyright, & Trademark the 11^th edition on page 4 published by NOLO ) refers to product of the human intellect that have commercial value and that receive legal protection.  Our text further states that typically, intellectual property encompasses creative works, products, processes, imagery, inventions and services and is protected by patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret law.  In the past few weeks I decided to change my major from interior design to graphic design. So I got confirmation on my questions with that in mind also I stuck to general questions because I said I was a law student..lol. These questions and answers are direct from the website http://www.whglawfirm.com/  and I feel are relevant to my future occupation.  

How do I know what form of intellectual property protection is available for my work?

A: The form of protection depends on the work. Generally, you should seek a trademark for a name, symbol or other device that distinguishes your product. Apply for a patent if you have made an invention or discovery that is new, non-obvious and useful. If you have produced an original work of authorship in a tangible medium of expression, such as a book, computer program, visual artwork or motion picture, copyright is the appropriate protection. Information that you keep confidential for the health of your business, such as a formula or source code, may find protection as a trade secret

How "original" does my work have to be to merit copyright protection?

A: Although the work must originate with you in order to be eligible for protection, it need not be pioneering to earn a copyright. The level of originality required for a copyright is met if the expression is new to author, regardless of whether someone else had a similar idea before. If you coincidentally write the same poem as someone halfway around the world, you both have the right to exclude others from copying your poems. If you copy someone else's poem, however, you have no copyright protection.

How do I know if I can protect my business information as a trade secret?

A: Confidential information is likely to be protected as a trade secret if, by virtue of being secret, it is valuable to the business that owns it and if the owner takes reasonable measures to protect the secret under the circumstances.

How much of my work is protected under a copyright?

A: A copyright protects only your expression — not the idea that underlies the expression. A biology textbook, therefore, may receive a lower degree of copyright protection than a work of fiction, because the expression in the textbook is constrained by the factual nature of scientific language. By providing only protection for expression and not for ideas, copyright law encourages authors to freely exchange and express information and ideas.

How can I prove that there has been an infringement on my copyright?

A: If the allegedly infringing work is substantially similar to yours and your work was accessible to others (through publication, for example), you may be able to show that the defendant copied your work. This is a fact-dependent issue. If the defendant independently produced the allegedly infringing work, however, without knowledge of either the existence or the content of your prior work, then the defendant may be able to show that it did not copy your work.

Legal Authority

I do not consider myself to be a quitter. However, that being said this project almost made me do just that. I have never had such a horrific experience in trying to get a lawyer to answer my question. I attempted 13 different times to make contact with 13 different local law firms in order to be granted an interview to discuss intellectual property laws. It was single most frustrating thing I have done thus far in my college career. I tried various approaches to obtain an interview.  I started out by saying I was an industry professional, that didn’t work. Then I said I was a college student doing a school project that also did not work either. I was however able to leave a voicemail with some of them but know return calls. The local law offices that I actually spoke to someone stated I needed to be a client of theirs before they could give me any legal advice. So as a last ditch effort before I threw in the towel and except an “F” on my final project I decided to go web. I found a site (www.whglawfirm.com) where some of my intellectual property questions had been answered so I called the number (866-970-0186) at the top of the page I spoke to the receptionist (I forgot her name) who connected me to Mr. Van Looper (one of the associate lawyers). I told him that I was a law student doing a project and I wanted to talk to him about some the questions that they had posted on their website. He told me he could not give out free legal advice on the phone. I told him I did not want legal advice I just wanted to read to what was posted on the site and for him to tell me if his law firm stood by the answers that they posted. I read him the questions, he then put me on hold for 3 minutes and when he came back on the line I asked him the questions and read him the answers posted. Mr. Van Looper stated that the answers were correct and his law firm stood behind them. I thanked him for his time. The law firm of Wang, Hartmann, Gibbs and Cauley, P.L.C. was established in 1994 and is one of the fast growing law firms concentrating in business litigation and intellectual property rights in the western United States, Asia, and Europe.  

Week 10 EOC:Erin Brockovich vs Robert Kerns

Erin Brockovich and Robert Kerns are kindred spirits in my opinion. Although Erin Brockovich story is different from Robert Kerns in many ways the underlining message is still the same. That message is that it’s not okay for any company to take advantage of the average man.  The Erin Brockovich story has her pitted against a big gas company whom essentially poisoned an entire community. The gas company was under the misconception that no one would care if a whole community was being poisoned. Sure the company tried to compensate by offering the townspeople “medical treatment” but of course that was on their terms.  The doctors and nursing staff were on the company’s payroll so information about the seriousness of the contamination was a little distorted. However, the fact that Erin (in her own colorful way) stood up and said people are dying and someone beside the sick individuals need to pay for it was inspiring. In Robert Kern’s case he was not standing up for a town he was standing up for himself which is as equally as important. How many of us today would take nearly twenty years out of our lives to prove we had been wrong by a multii-million dollar company. Not to mention the great personal stress he placed on his family just to prove that the idea for the intermittent wiper blade was his idea and Ford stole it. For him it was about the money because he turned down 30 million dollars. He wanted the world to know that it was morally wrong to take other mans idea and claim it as your own. Most of us would have taken the money when Ford offered the large settlement but he stood his ground because it was about principles not money. I’m sure everyday large corporations are taking advantage of a community, of their employees, or of someone else’s ideas that want stop. But it is nice to know that every blue moon someone will say enough is enough.