Stop & Listen!

In the entertainment industry protecting your business and everything within your business is key. It is definitely not all glitz and glamour. There are so many liabilities that come along with any business but within the entertainment industry everything that you create, intellectual property to be more specific, has to be protected. It all depends on what type of intellectual property you are trying to protect in order to know the right steps to take to protect it. Intellectual property includes symbols, images, inventions, and many others. So, with the help of several podcasts I will discuss the liabilities that you and I may encounter within our business.

The first podcast I reviewed, Registering Trademarks & Copyrights with U.S. Customs, discussed registering your trademarks and copyright with the U.S. Customs. This podcast really opened my eyes to something that I hadn’t been exposed to before. I thought once you registered a trademark and/or a copyright it was protected from any kind of infringement. Counterfeiting takes over $200 billion dollars from businesses I guess the saying is true that you learn something new everyday! I learned that after registering your trademark with the USPTO you must record your marks with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This provides you with the right to sue people on the black market selling your registered works. It also allows right holders to electronically file an Intellectual Property Rights recordation application. I never thought about the black market sellers who might infringe upon works that have been registered with the USPTO and now I know how to protect them if ever that problem arises.

The second podcast , Copyright Infringement and Damages, basically reiterated what I already learned in my Advanced Entertainment Law class. This podcast discussed rights of copyright owners, copyright infringement, and remedies for infringement. Copyright owners have the right to reproduce, distribute, adapt, etc. their copyrighted work. This is also important because it gives the copyright owners the right to sue someone for infringing on their work. Now copyright infringement is taking someone else’s work and using it as if you hold the copyright to it. That is illegal and if caught, you will be sued for it. You will be liable for any damages, both compensatory and statutory. You will also have to pay attorney fees and costs. Copyright infringement is serious business and if you’re found guilty you will pay! It’s just not worth it. Be original!

The third podcast, Trademarks and Domain Names, gave insight into how to protect your trademarked domain name and remedies to handle someone infringing on your domain name. It discusses what you need in order to trademark your domain name. Your domain name has to serve as more than just your address. Now, if you suspect someone is/has infringed on your domain name you can refer to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). This policy contains three elements they look at to see if your domain name is being infringed upon. One, the domain name has to be identical to your trademark, two, the person who registered the domain name isn’t utilizing it, and three, the domain name has to be used in bad faith. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) also provides remedies. It may take longer with the ACPA as opposed to the UDRP but the benefits from going the ACPA will definitely be worth it!