Running a business requires a certain amount of agreement within your organization—but if all you’re hearing is the same thing, it can be more harmful than it is good, and can lead to some critical mistakes in the early stages. Every business requires a strong foundation if it wants to succeed. Early stage mistakes haveContinue reading “Upcoming Event: Starting: Setting Up for Success, Your Business Needs a Solid Foundation”
Author Archives: mwillee
Entrepreneur Spotlight: How Ray Young is Fighting Content Theft Encouraged by Big Tech Platforms
Traklight CEO Mary Juetten profiled Ray Young, RightsLedger and Milio Founder and CEO, about his vision for creator-focused platforms, his journey in building both companies, and what all social media users should know about their content and ownership before they post. You can read the full article on IPWatchdog.com.
Are Comedians Fairly Compensated By Streaming Services?
If we’re being honest, most of us are largely in the dark when it comes to the terms of the royalty agreements between labels, artists and streaming services. We know they get paid—there’s not a Napster or Limewire currently running afoul of musicians ans record executives alike—but as to the percentage of revenue shared, orContinue reading “Are Comedians Fairly Compensated By Streaming Services?”
Can A Lax Approach to Copyright Actually Be a Benefit?
Most of the stories covered on this blog feature one company coming down hard on some business or individual for infringing upon their intellectual property rights, because that’s how most IP stories go. The actions taken within those stories makes sense in a way befitting early-21st century capitalism, which is to say that big, wealthyContinue reading “Can A Lax Approach to Copyright Actually Be a Benefit?”
Nintendo Files Copyright Claims Over Game Soundtracks on YouTube
The average internet user, for the most part, doesn’t care much for things like copyright. That’s not to say that they necessarily derive pleasure in disregarding our well-established intellectual property laws; rather, they just want what they want, and if they can’t get it from the putative source, they’re happy to turn elsewhere, and onContinue reading “Nintendo Files Copyright Claims Over Game Soundtracks on YouTube”
Taylor Swift Loses Bid to Dismiss “Shake It Off” Copyright Case
Are famous artists more prone to copy (or, more generously interpreted, borrow) from other artists, or are they simply more likely to be either caught out or targeted by other musicians or rightsholders for these perceived indiscretions? If we believe that they’re not any different from other artists, save for being more talented and/or luckierContinue reading “Taylor Swift Loses Bid to Dismiss “Shake It Off” Copyright Case”
Cloudflare Wins Summary Judgment in Copyright Case
As has been noted before, it’s particularly hard for rightsholders to nail down exactly who to blame for copyright violations on the internet. There’s the obvious answer — the people who are actually committing the infringement — but they can be hard to actually track down and are typically just one of thousands doing similarly bad things, so stopping them doesn’t do much to solve the problem on a larger scale. And so many of those rightsholders go after those who serve as middlemen and women for the legion of copyright infringers, be they platforms or internet service providers or any other service that has some incidental role in the act, even without direct knowledge.
Evel Knievel’s Estate Loses Trademark Suit Against Disney
If you’re a company as large as Disney, with as much ownership over wide swaths of TV and cinema and other media as they now possess, you’re going to have some fairly frequent IP run-ins. The most recent case making news was the lawsuit brought against the estates of comic creators seeking to prevent them from cancelingContinue reading “Evel Knievel’s Estate Loses Trademark Suit Against Disney”
Some Business Patent Advice
Obtaining patents for your business can be an exciting process in protecting your intellectual property, but making money off of it in the immediate term is not typically achievable without undergoing a few particular business maneuvers, many of which tend to be loaded with risk. Regardless, that tends to be the nature of making moneyContinue reading “Some Business Patent Advice”
Four Startup Must-Haves That Relate to IP
Saying the word “startup” conjures up images of Silicon Valley smarty-pants rocking flip-flops and essentially living at their desks, working their tails off to IPO or drum up rounds of funding. While this picture I’ve painted might be the reality for some, in truth, startups are any new business, determinedly trying to get off theContinue reading “Four Startup Must-Haves That Relate to IP”