Peter C. Lemire Interview

For today’s blog, we are email interviewing Attorney Peter C. Lemire of Leyendecker & Lemire LLC of Colorado Springs because it was easier given our busy schedules.
[Peter C. Lemire]

Actually we are located in Centennial ;-)

More About:
For more information about Attorney Peter C. Lemire of Leyendecker & Lemire LLC
http://www.coloradoiplaw.com/index.html

Peter’s Blog/Website
http://petersguitarproject.blogspot.com/
[Peter C. Lemire]

Wow that’s really out of date! I did finish that guitar it rocks. I will have to do an updated post on that some time.

Intro Questions:

So, Peter what made you want to practice IP and Entertainment Law?
[Peter C. Lemire]

I guess as with most attorneys it was really something I fell into as opposed to a conscious decision. When I came out of law school I actually wanted to be a securities attorney doing IPO’s and stuff. However, it was right at the same time as the Dot Com bust so there really weren’t any positions in that field. I ended up as in-house counsel for a technology company. From my work during law school, I had some small previous experience with copyrights, trademarks and some entertainment law due to a client the firm I was working for had, so when IP issues came up in the company I was the only one in the legal department that had any prior experience with them so I was assigned all the IP issues. After a while you become the “IP Guy”, and then after years of practicing in the area you wake up one day and realize you are an expert in the area. I really enjoy what I do, so it all worked out in the end even if IP and entertainment law really wasn’t on my radar screen when I graduated from law school.

I see that you have interest in music, do you help out local musicians or is it just a hobby?
[Peter C. Lemire]

I do have an interest in music. I’m a big fan of blues, but really enjoy a wide range of styles – anything from Mozart to Metallica. I play guitar(and build them) and drums strictly as a hobby. We represent variety of local musicians and some independent record labels for a lot of different matters, from copyright issues to recording deals, to band agreements. Since music is one of my interests its really fun to represent clients in this area – I’m always amazed at their talent.

Okay, I see that you are interested in movies, help anyone in film?
[Peter C. Lemire]

On the film side we mainly represent film and production companies and on occasion screen writers. Once again it’s a pretty wide scope – anything from film financing deals, to production and co-production deals, distribution deals, clearing and advising on rights and copyrights.

Basic IP Info Questions:

So what is the biggest mistake you see people make when handling their own IP?
[Peter C. Lemire]

Probably two mistakes. The first is not understanding the nature of IP and what the different types of rights are and what they protect. Sometimes people think they have way more rights than they actually do, or actually don’t recognize when they have a protectable and potentially valuable rights to something. The second is failing to seek qualified advice from an attorney that practices in the area. This area is very complex and even though there are a lot of resources out there, it is hard to have a good understanding of IP and entertainment issues unless you deal with them on a day to day basis. The nuances and exceptions to exceptions in this area are staggering and a lot of times the law is counter to what the average person’s gut feel is. You might think it costs a lot to get good advice, but I assure you it is well worth it. I have a lot of really smart attorney friends that practice in other areas of the law at look at me like I am speaking Greek when I talk about IP issues – it really is almost a completely different language.

When trade marking a name, how important is it that it is “unique” and “distinct” if it’s main place is the Internet?
[Peter C. Lemire]

Pretty much one of the most important considerations. How protectable a name is depends on how distinctive or unique it is. If you go with something that very descriptive of your product or services your scope of protection won’t be very broad and you may have difficulties enforcing the mark against people with similar names. Also on the practice side, if your mark is really descriptive and a widely used word or term for your products or services you will get lost in the noise and people will have a hard time finding you in google searches etc. If you have a more unique or distinctive name – if someone hears it and wants to find out more about your company, you have a much better shot of the finding you in a google search, than if they have to wade through hundreds or thousands of other results to get to you.

Specific Event Questions:

So I am planning an event in Colorado for 2012 or 2013 aside from the trademark what else should I consider?
[Peter C. Lemire]

Depends on the type of event, but you want to make sure you have all of your local permits and are compliance will all local laws and regulations. If you are promoting other peoples goods or services as well you want to make sure you get their permission to use their trademarks and associate their goods/services with your event.

Okay, that sounds good, but what if at the event I have guests who want to sell or market their own IP, what are three things I need to consider?
[Peter C. Lemire]

Mainly you want to make sure that they own the IP and whatever they are trying to market or sell won’t create any liabilities for you. You can limit your exposure by having your guests sign documents to you that warrant that they have the rights to what they are selling, by offering the items for sale, they are not violating anybody else’s right, and that if you sustain any losses or damages because of their sales activities that they will indemnify you.

Close Questions:
I know there so much more than can be covered in this email, but is there anything we should know in regards to finding an IP attorney as well as what we should do before seeking one?
[Peter C. Lemire]

I would suggest finding a good IP attorney that has solid experience in the areas of IP that are relevant to you and your situation. For example, people in the entertainment industry probably don’t want to use someone who mainly does patents, as they will not be as familiar with trademark, copyright and other important entertainment issues and ins and outs of the industry. In fact I would probably stay away from patent attorneys, even though they will claim to have expertise in the other IP areas – the subject matter is just too different and a lot of time patent attorney’s don’t have a high tolerance for the ambiguities that surround the issues that come up in entertainment law (complex copyright issues for example).

Again, I want to thank Peter C Lemire for taking the time to answer these questions.

JDK's Response to Fulls Sail Law Role Play

JDK's my classmate, and this is his response.


April 13, 2011



RE: Fear Factor Smoothie Contest


JDK a peer of mine at Full Sail's response to last week's assignment.


To whom it may concern,



My name is JDK and I promotions consultant and liability analyst for CDE Promotions. It has been brought to my attention that you will be hosting a contest (Fear Factory Mystery Smoothie Contest) on Wednesday at 8:30am in downtown Orlando. It is my understanding that the first five persons to arrive will become contestants, which will be required to drink a Mystery Smoothie Concoction. The fastest drinker of the concoction will win a five hundred dollar grand prize. Although this event sounds fun and exciting, there are a few concerns that have been brought to my attention.



After reviewing your contest outline/proposal, I have a few concerns regarding the liabilities of the contest.





As each contestant is required to drink a “Mystery Mixture.” I believe it may necessary to first have each contestant sign a waiver of liability, ensuring that no contestant can file claims or sue CDE promotions for illness or medical issues that may arise from the drinking of said mystery smoothie.



Additionally, each contestant should re be required to provide any allergies to the hosts of the contests to ensure their safety and CDE Promotions safety. the ingredients that may be used must be provide dto the contestants ahead of time with a disclaimer that they may "Drink at Their Own Risk."



It should be made known that contestants must be at least 18 years of age in order to participate in the event. Any younger and the contestants would have to have their parents/guardians in attendance to sign a waiver allowing their child to participate. Each contestant will be required to provide proof of id.

Note Should the Mystery Smoothies contain alcohol, each contestant would then be required to be of the consenting age of 21 or older, with proof of ID.



A permit shall be needed for the event and Proper authorities shall be notified, as the contest will be held in a parking lot on a busy downtown location. The authorities will direct traffic and assist with the parking of contestants for the event.



It has been brought to my attention that you are hosting an event in an intersection of downtown Orlando on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. I was informed that the contest is to be the first contestant there and to drink the smoothie concoction the fastest.



It is also suggested that CDE Promotions obtain liability insurance.





In the end, I believe that this contest can and will be successfully executed with the proper adjustments made to the event/contest to ensure guest and contestant safety. Indemnifying CDE Promotions of any liabilities that may occur. Should there be any questions, please feel free to contact me, or my office, at CDE promotions to discuss any questions or concerns.

Respectfully,
JDK

Full Sail RolePlay Responses

Hey all, I’m posting these on the blog , so if you want me to remove me please email at Izefunni@gmail.com title “remove”


@ Jack
Thanks, I read the prompt, slept went to work, and came home with the idea for my format, but I love your format. The intro is a short paragraph and your points to what you see as wrong are fantastic. It’s simple; in comparison, I have to limit my wordiness. You have truly inspired me for my blog and a new format to play with.


@Christy

I know about the “fear factor issue” and thus bolded it in my post. I only hit two because that was the assignment and I wanted others to have a chance to use it. It’s tough for me, because I accept we are in a global village and felt that other experts in the fold such as “legal” would bring those concerns to the owners of the event and I could sympathize more with the owners of the event while making them feel better about sound legal advice as mention in our negotiation class and my current job in card services.

@ Lala

Re:
“Lastly, I see that there is a $500 cash prize. When will the contestant receive the prize? Does this take time to be processed or will the contestant receive the money immediately following the contest?”

I thought about this but couldn’t put in prospective as you did. I thought about “how” the contestants would be paid not “when”. Both are important and need to work out. Ideally, in a big corporation you have both legal and financial to handle these two issues; however, in a small company these would be outsourced to other companies.

Full Sail Role Play Assignment

Sometimes Full Sail has you role play to start preparing you for a career. One class I had to take different roles such as "burnt our ex-rocker turned manager", "Young Director", "Failed Actor" to better understand the emotions of different people working out business deals based on real deals that went wrong or right.

For today's class, I play a young PR Fixer Agent who has been given a legal nightmare waiting to happen for an event... (sigh it's like playing Heroes Unlimited and DnD all over again).

Fear Factory Mystery Smoothie –
The contest will be held on a Wednesday morning at 8:30 A.M. To
compete, contestants must be one of the first five to arrive at a parking lot
located near a busy intersection in downtown Orlando. Once all contestants
arrive, the DJs will concoct a special smoothie with undisclosed ingredients.
The first contestant to drink his or her entire smoothie wins a $500 cash prize.


Re: Fear Factory Mystery Smoothie

Hey Tia and Karl,

It’s Zon Petilla from PR Nightmare Avoidance LLP “Keeping your dreams as dreams since 2003”. I was assigned to help answer some legal concerns you may not have been aware of that some of the investors had with your “Fear Factory Mystery Smoothie” event. The concerns are related to product and misrepresentation liabilities.

“Is the DJ a bartender?” because outside investors want to know: 1) Do you have to have a bartender license in Florida to serve alcohol? 2) Can the DJ accidentally poison or kill the contestants. They also want to see how you are going to have the customers sign an agreement that would clear them and you from any reasonable liabilities. Considering the NBC show "Fear Factor", I’m already creating an agreement that excludes vomiting from being pinned on the event, guests, staff, you, and the investors. However, if a contestant seriously gets sick or dies from the drink, I don’t think any agreement is going to help. In any case, I’m working on a draft and a list for people to sign for some legal guys to look at in Orlando who know more about the local laws.

Also, if anyone does get sick and finds out the DJ cannot legally serve beverages at events, they are concerned that contestants may blame us for propping a DJ as a bar tender. Thus, I propose we have a bar tender help the DJ just in case. I called an old contact of mine who serves at Tempe Florida bar and she has a friend who also is a bar tender who just moved to Orlando. After, talking with “Kara”, I feel she’s perfect; I’m sending a photo and a bio to you and the investors because she can come in and help.

Also, we have to ask contestants if they have any food allergies, which Kara is very aware about such as “soy” mixed drink issues; she knows how to ask without ruining the fun. She’s also very respectfully sexy and smart which hasn’t hurt the opinion of investors who already approve, but it’s your guys' show, so I’m running this by you. Also, Kara told me to mention she is married and would appreciate that all staff members are aware; she’s comfortable with anything that happens on stage, but she’s had issues back stage and asked if I could tell the managers of the event. Great gal to get to know and her contact info is in the packet. One more thing, I’m looking at hiring an additional paramedic for the back stage just in case. There’s noting wrong with vomiting but nothing kills the buzz more than dealing with someone dying. Any of the changes I propose and their costs will be itemized my next email and if you guys have event staff or other solutions for the liability concerns, email me back or call me.

Can’t wait to meet you during the event_
Zon Petilla Consultant for PR Nightmare Avoidance LLP “Keeping your dreams as dreams since 2003.”

FYI, How Much % Should a Muscian Get?

According to my Peer's research an Artist should always shoot for 70% of any music deal. This higher then the classic 10% a booking agent got, but given that agents do more than ever before with tech, the percentage went up.

More to the point, there are agents who try and get 50% to 75% from the artist. However, if the artist is hot, then the artist should always shoot for 75% in the music biz.

Sigh, My Project Wonderful Box Has been Delisted

Well my Project Wonderful Ad-box has been Delisted. I can reactivate the box, but I first want to make sure I take steps to help the independent advertisers who had and may advertise on this site.

Of course, I received a warning letter last week with tips to boost my numbers, but given my work schedule on a project of 40hrs a week, other projects I'm working on, and the fact this blog is primarily to share my grad studies and sometimes blogs like this, I wasn't going to hype or do anything different then my weekly updates.

LOL, it felt great to have the box because many webcartoonists who have used this service, and in truth when I finally get my web-comic going this year this service may be of some use.

Five Issues for Potential Final Project for BUL FS Class

Five Issues for the Outline


1.) Misrepresentation

Definition of Term:
Stated facts that are not true and may include guarantees that are unfulfilled.

Why:
My fear is when I’m creating initial agreements or drafts of agreements that the language is off which could create confusion on terms of an agreement that may create a unintentional misrepresentation.

Title of Case

PACRIM ASSOCIATES v. TURNER HOME ENTERTAINMENT INC
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-court-of-appeals/1174942.html


Brief Summary:
This 1998 case deals with an agreement that has international aspects as far as production and distribution. Pacrim believed that they had an official agreement with Turrner Home Entertainment (THE) that made Pacrim THE’s exclusive licensing and merchandising agent in Thailand for a year; Pacrim accused them of “breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and fraud, inter alia” because of an early termination. The court of appeals reversed charges against Pacrim and affirmed the court’s decision that THE did commit Fraud.


2.) Financial Liability
Question for Instructor: Couldn’t find a good case but need help with this one: I want to deal with Korean Investment potentially to raise funds for an event, what cases should I look into?

Definition of Term:
In this case, how other people’s money is handled related to investing in third party companies.

Explain and Why:
Handling investments both domestic and foreign may actually become a reality. Already have been in contact with a CPA to handle domestic taxes, but need more information in drafting agreements.

List Case:
MIGDAL v. ROWE PRICE FLEMING INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED III
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1236299.html

Brief Summary:

In this case, Applet Court affirmed decision because Migal wanted a “exploratory action” to further their case after evidence was inclusive during trial; however, the court decided that their was no grounds because it would violate other jurisdictions to do so. Thus, the court affirmed the court’s decision.

3.) Trademark Infringement
My concerns relate to the fact we are currently using natural trademark laws and the DMCA (DMCA) to establish a brand and web presence before forming an LLC later this year.

Explain and Why:
Web Presence/Advertisement concerns relate to this case. Meaning, when we put out our brand and IPs, can someone claim infringement based on how similar the design by happen-stance may be.

Definition of Term:
Trademark is a protective mark that helps consumer identify one brand from another. An infringement can include anything that causes confusion for a consumer or market place between brands.

List Case:
NATURAL ANSWERS INC v. SMITHKLINE BEECHAM CORPORATION
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1206578.html

Brief Summary:
In this case, “Natural Answers” is accusing “Smithkline Beeham” of Trademark Infringement over the Internet. Ultimately, the ruling stands that since Natural Answers was using a natural trademark and was not currently doing business, Smithkline Beeham was not infringing on a trademark and can make claim because Natural Answers had not registered a Trademark or was currently doing any current business online.


3.) Product Liability

Definition of Term:
Product liability is when a party is responsible for any incidents or accidents that may be related to the design or development of a product in a market place.

Explain and Why:
We deal with a 12 to 40 year old demographic potentially, so we are not necessarily worried about the classic “Warning Children Under 3: Choking Hazard” found on a lot toy packages. However, even though it may cause branding issues, we are at least going to put some type of warning; the question is “what?”.

List Case:
TUCKER v. DIVISION SALES INC
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1389769.html

Brief Summary:

In 1994, after an autopsy, it was revealed that the suction cup dart lodged in the right bronchus and blocked air in his throat, which caused the child to choke to death. During the Trial, Division Sale violated a “limine” agreement causing the jury to blame the boy’s family and causing the jury to side with Division Sales; thus, The plaintiffs were given another trial based on the “limline” violation.

5.) Wrongful Interference


Definition of Term:
Wrongful Interference means to get in the way of two party’s business agreements or purposely cause a break between business agreements. In this case, Slander may have been used to cause a deal to not happen or continue.

Explain and Why:
Oh my god, that’s all I have to say. Seeing and having some deals at conferences, I see a whole lot of tort cases ready to happen. Even the nature of the Internet is not friendly to Wrongful Interference. Until reading this case, I wasn’t interested in “Slander” as a reason to file a civil case in relation to the tort “Wrongful Interference.”

SNYDER v. SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT INChttp://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-supreme-court-appellate-division/1377113.html

Brief Summary:
Snyder accuses a representative of Sony Music of slander, which caused Snyder to loose contacts and business agreements. Slander was hard to prove; moreover, multiple violations of the firm’s policies were on record. Snyder tried to cross appeal, but his arguments were viewed as “academic” not “factual”, so the court denied his appeals and he lost.






References:

Ruffin, (1998) Pacrim Associates v. Turner Home Entertainment Inc
Retrieved April 9th, 2011 from http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-court-of-appeals/1174942.html
- November 30, 1998

Wilkinson (2001) Migdal v. Rowe Price Fleming International Incorporated III Retrieved April 9th, 2011 from: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1236299.html

Marcus (2008) Natural Answers Inc v. Smithkline Beecham Corporation
April 9th, 2011 from: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1206578.html

Holdridge (2000) Tucker v Division Sales Inc, April 9th, 2011 from
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1389769.html

Mazzarelli, J. (1999) Synder v. Sony Music Entertainment Inc. April 9th, 2011 from
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-supreme-court-appellate-division/1377113.html

Learning SEO Tools with Some Help

After being cut from my community college job, I decided to try and start a business in Colorado Spring. Unfortunately, savings only last so long, so I decided to get some non-education related experience.

At my call center Job, I met Ralph, a guy who lost his management position but is an old school programer at heart. When our system was done for several hours on night, he blew my mind with SEO Tool stuff and web design. The first step was understanding SEOquake. The next would be understanding how to create "Back links" and forums.

Dicussion Board Post 04052011

Prompt: Advise Artist on what problems and/or benefits you think the agreement has and whether he should sign with Manager. The contract reads as follows:

Definitions
Term
Services
Fees and Commissions
Artists Career
Scope
Controversies
Standard of Conduct
BENEFITS ARTIST IS ENTITLED TO AT EVERY
PERFORMANCE

Examples from assignment…
“Whereas, MANAGER is an experienced manager in the entertainment industry;”

“Whereas, it is therefore ARTIST’S desire that MANAGER’S Compensation be determined in such manner as will permit MANAGER to accept the risk of failure and likewise benefit to the extent of ARTIST’S success.”

Given, confusing syntax and lexical choices, the entire contract is to give manager a lot of power over the artist who signs for three years and 18 months after. For the first part: I have issues with the use of whereas and the grammatical misuse of the “;”; plus, I believe these should be in terms section title “Definitions” or something to that effect. I feel the grammar messes with a clear meaning to what the artist is agreeing to. If I was the artist, I could not sign because I would than likely not be able to creatively, financially, and emotionally handle the manager in continue my career four years in the future.

Case in point, Services Section is not clear but the language of this section has reasonable and unreasonable aspects. The “council” and “advice” of the manager makes sense, but “direction” attached to words such as “embellish” and “value” seems to lead the manage to have creative and financial control over the artist both of which are not good things to have control over. An Artist has to breath creatively and a manager should enhance what talent is already there. Financial control isn’t necessary bad if a manager is actually developing funds for the brand and maintaining a financial future for the artist after the contract is over; however, most times that’s not the case.


More proof of my thesis: The “Artist’s Career Section” seems to place all the work and responsibility on the Artist reflexively instead on the manager by simply adding “Artist” where “Manager” should be.

Free Digital Distribution is Always Awesome: Copyrights, Your Content, and 3rd Party Copyright

In this assignment, I analyze three different legal liabilities associated with my business plan I'm developing in relation to providing content on the net: 3rd Parties posting Your Content Online, Copyright law in the free economy, and third party agreements.

Sigh, please forgive the length but because I'm starting the legal class at Full Sail, I felt I had to be more thorough and could not break it into three blogs for grading purposes.

1.) You Tube VS Viacom
2.) Free is Awesome Vs The Stolen Design
3.) 3rd Party Agreements

Case Study: YouTube Versus Viacom

2006, let the games begin.


These are valid arguments entering the lawsuit; however, the argument was under the digital millennium act and the nature of the Internet as a free exchange of data as laid out by Net Neutrality (Past Blog).

Viacom:

Google and YouTube knew about the infringement [of Viacom material on YouTube], made money off of it, and took part in it. Therefore, they owe us a truckload [an exact measure] of money. Google has said money in the bank, and will save our year from being dismal financially.

YouTube:
Under the DMCA safe harbor rules, we are completely inside of the letter and spirit of the law. Precedents have been set for such rulings in trials like Io Group v. Veoh... YouTube and Google have no intention to bail out a struggling business. Learn how to make your own money.

From:
http://thenextweb.com/us/2010/06/23/youtube-beats-viacom-in-massive-copyright-infringement-case/


An LOL Courtroom Reenactment


Crooks Vs Jerks


http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/06/24/youtube-vs-viacom-everybody-wins/

Fan Posts Most Times Don’t Make Money on YouTube

Considering all the millionaires made from content on YouTube, it makes sense that Viacom wanted more (CNN).

In 2008, I met a successful content provider on Xbox Live who got a loyal following...

“Sina117” had enough views to be considered to make money on Youtube. Thus, Google seeing the analytics offered him to become part of Goggle's Partnership Program; meaning, he would make money from the views on YouTube.


However, since his videos were of videogames and Sina117 did not have third party agreements, Youtube was not obligated to pay him or offer him a partnership.



However, on clicks alone Sina117 actually made money on this video and had to send cease and decease orders to Collegehumor.com for using the video and not crediting him or pay him royalties.


Of course I’m not trying to use YouTube to make millions from a partnership program or at least not yet. I’m considering how Youtube can help run inexpensive web market campaigns as seen below.



However, this case has brought up some interesting ideas such as how do we protect against copyright infringement or even our own digital content from being stolen as me move closer and closer to a digital content market and less on printed or proceed material such as CDs and Books?

The answer that has worked really well seems to not care about piracy (Past Blog).

Free is Awesome Vs The Stolen Design

As mentioned, Viacom used Youtube to promote it’s programming. Why? Because free is awesome, the Internet is a free flowing way to send media or connect with fans. More importantly, it is a way for independents content creators to successfully start a business. As mentioned on past blogs and a ton of places on the net, this all relates to the connect with fans model or free to paid products.

The stolen design issue.

Note: Click on Image for original website and article.

As seen on the above image and article from suvudu.com, Scott Kurtz of Half Pixel in their podcast Web Comics Weekly, once talked about how fans of his told him that their were people stealing his shirt designs. His response to the matter was to simple let his designs and wording be used because he felt that it was part of a community and not his alone to make a claim (Webcomics Weekly).




Another related story with a happy ending is the Twitter “Fail Whale”. The popular fail whale that would appear when Twitter wasn’t working was by an unknown designer Yiying Lu who didn’t receive any credit or pay for her popular design as seen below.
As we can see the design does not room for any establishing brand elements, which could have caused Yiying Lu to receive neither pay or credit. However, it is valid argument that the Fail Whales success could come from the fact Yiying Lu’s was not trying to brand her design.

In any case, Tom Limongello tracked the her down and helped her set up an online store on Zazzle. (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_story_of_the_fail_whale.php)

Again, the point here is free is awesome but make sure you at least get credit for your work.

3rd Party Agreements

Sadly, from the case study, it seems Viacom did not have a real agreement established before it started using YouTube, which led to this court case. Because these two media giants didn’t sit down and talk things through before using each other for mutual gain, it had to be settled by the courts.

Consider this as a possible solution: 3rd party agreement represents strategic partnering and resources sharing. For independent creators IP sharing can be vary profitable. Of course Marvel Vs Campcom represents two established brands benefiting form such an agreement, but a more independent content example could be guest hosts such as podcasts (TGT.com), bloggers(Chrig.com check), or webcomics (webcomics.com). These guests work with start up or establish independent brands and help promote both a third party brand and their own.



These third party agreements can come in many forms, terms, and length of commitments. The “Work for Hire” can be consider a basic third party agreement where a creator is being paid by a third party to create or work with products or content for that third party (www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf).

For example, Marvel and DC years ago were guilty of imposing harsh work for hire agreements and contracts that lead many of their lead creators to leave in the 1990’s (The Comics Journal).

Another example of limiting agreements, animation and game development contracts also fall under this, I have a friend I can’t work with until she finishes a game because everything she creates could be consider theirs until the work for hire is done. Sadly, the game has been in private beta testing for more than a year.

Of course, the simplest non-limiting agreement can be still be verbal. A third party agreement can be just by saying “guest host” my podcast, blog, or Webcomic and knowing who is saying “yes”. In this case, a short engagement and knowing someone limits the legal risk and frees up the creativity related to mutual ventures.

However, my real goal is to develop term strategic partners where the "third party" would not be bound to a work for hire but instead a “longer” term partnership. This is where I'm very interested in the market of free content and international partnerships. Or in another sense, the power of agency and establishing a market position when developing third party agreements.

What can you take from this?

When you design a business plan, you have to consider your "web presence". I know for most people that’s a “duh” right? But let’s consider the legal ramification from the Google case how that impacts or enhances your web presence...

Your stuff on the internet can and if popular will be pirated. Yay!

“Cease and decease” letters can only work if you send the letter to the direct person who is responsible, but on services like You Tube, you cannot send it to a company providing the individual the ability to use your content on the web without your permission (DMCA and http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/06/24/youtube-vs-viacom-everybody-wins/)

Sure, the easiest solution is to consider “piracy” as marketing, but this means your content still should be branded as yours. Meaning, if some is going to use it without you permission then it’s important to make sure people know it’s yours.

Case in point, my first project wonderful sponsor. "Johnink.com" is placed before this parody video; so even when it's on this blog, you know where to go if you want more...



Moreover, if you are planning your stuff to be distributed all over the net without your permission how does your business plan account for the actual sale of your goods and services? LOL, if your young enough to remember the end of the 1990's, then you lived through the dot.com crash. It's funny because we're living the dream that Al Gore worked towards or something to that effect.



Note: International Laws are Different

For this blog, I’m only considering the US and US partner countries; None the less, when considering international business, it's always great to get professional, legal, and law advice from trust worthy sources. I’ve been interested in doing business in Korea and have to do more research on how to provide content over there for free if I’m on a work a Teacher Visa. It sounds kind of silly I know, but Americans have gotten in trouble for worse when visiting other countries like China.


Other References in blog not cited used...

DMCA (1998) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 Retrieved From: www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

Just a Simple Thank You For This Week :)

First I thank all the people reading this blog. Although my web comic and actual company are taking longer than I would like. It really has meant that people outside of my class find this blog of interest.

A shout out to the project wonderful peps!!!
More people I have to thank for supporting this blog through project wonderful.

http://www.aeria-comic.com/

Webcomic: Great art, but I haven’t read enough of the story to become a fan yet.

http://www.aywas.com/
Digital Pet’s online



http://www.retrovirusrecords.com/
Check out this site if your into music…


http://www.athome.com
If I ever get a chance, I would love to make a home with the site’s stuff.

http://appdevsecrets.com/iphone.php
A bit too much of sales pitch, but interesting ideas.

Warning!!! Warning: The views on these sites are not my own and be careful when dealing with outside third party sites. I have done my best to limit and get project wonderful ads that are safe, but if there is an advertisers I feel is too risky of a link, I won’t put it up… sorry for those I missed but if there issues with your site when I clicked, I don’t want to risk it.