Practice Areas Cokato Lawyer Thomas James – Tom James Law Office
Copyright
Registration
Fiction, nonfiction, songs, artwork, photographs, website content, software, more
Cancellation
Petitions to cancel a registration
Appeals
from the denial or cancellation of a registration
DMCA Notices and Subpoenas
Digital Millennium Copyright Act take-down notices responses, and subpoenas
Contracts
Licenses, works made for hire, assignments
Claims
Enforcement and defense
Learn how to register copyrights with Cokato lawyer Tom James
Cokato lawyer Tom James shows you how to save hundreds or thousands of dollars in attorney fees and copyright registration service providers by learning to do it yourself. Although he has an office only in one state, the information that Minnesota attorney Thomas James provides in this course is applicable to anyone, anywhere in the world, who wants to register a copyright in the United States.
Copyright Registration for Songs & Music Albums
Step-by-step guide to U.S. copyright registration of songs and music albums, including the new GRUW and GRAM applications for registering groups and albums of songs, presented by Minnesota attorney Thomas James.
On-demand course at Udemy.com. Enroll once; come back to watch it again as often as you wish.
Regularly priced at $69.*
*Check the Udemy website. They frequently offer major discounts on courses.
Check the Courses page for more information about this and other course offerings.
Copyright registration
Copyright protection begins the moment you fix a creative work in a tangible medium of expression. As soon as you record a song or write an article or a story, or paint a picture, or take a photograph, or save a computer program to disk, you have a copyright in it (assuming it is an original creation, of course.) As long as it is something creative and original, not just a copy of somebody else’s work, you will have the exclusive right to copy, distribute, and publicly display it. If it’s a work that can be performed, you will have the exclusive right to perform it, and a somewhat more limited exclusive right to digitally transmit it if it is a sound recording. You also have the exclusive right to make derivative works based on your copyrighted work.
Why you should register your copyright
You will need to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office if you want to enforce it in a U.S. court. Registration also creates presumptions that it is valid and that you own it. Without these, you would need to find evidence to prove that you are the author/owner and of the date on which the copyright arose. That can be very difficult – and costly – to do. In some cases, it might not even be possible.
Registration makes it easier for you to win an award of damages and attorney fees for infringement, You can recover statutory damages for infringement even without proving any actual loss. They are only available, however, if you have registered the copyright. Additionally, if your work has been published, then you will need to apply to register your copyright either before you publish it or, in some cases, within three months after you first publish it.
Rights in creative output are valuable. For some people and businesses, these rights may be their most valuable assets. Even if you are not currently making money from them, somebody might do that some day. You want to make sure that person is you, not somebody else. You also want to protect yourself from being sued by someone who has stolen your work and beaten you to the registration office. Minnesota attorney Thomas James can help you register the copyrights in your works and protect your rights.
Prompt registration is crucial
It is important not only to register your copyright, but to do it quickly. In addition, to making sure that you will be able to get statutory damages (see above), you also need to be aware that you cannot even file a copyright infringement claim until after your copyright has been registered. Merely applying for a copyright is not enough. The Copyright Office must actually approve the registration before you can file your claim. Applications typically take months to process. Sometimes it can take a year, or even two. You can only claim damages for infringement occurring during the three-year period prior to filing your claim. Waiting too long to apply to register your copyright may leave you without a remedy.
Why use an attorney?
The copyright application and registration process can be complicated and confusing. If you don’t do it right, may have to start all over again. And if the application is not filled out in exactly the right way, the registration might not give you the protection you think it does. A qualified copyright attorney can greatly improve your chances of getting your application approved the first time.
Contact Cokato lawyer Tom James
Cokato lawyer Tom James has experience helping clients register copyrights. Whether it’s a novel, a textbook, a collection of stories, photographs, artwork, a song, a music album, a computer program, or something else, Minnesota attorney Tom James can help you. Although he is a Minnesota attorney Thomas James has helped non-Minnesotans get their copyrights registered, too. Get in touch!
Denials, Cancellations, and Appeals
The Copyright Office may deny registration for a number of reasons. For example:
- Defective application
- Nonpayment of fee
- No deposit
- Improper deposit
- Nonhuman authorship
- Ineligible subject matter (such as an idea or an algorithm)
- Copy of an existing work
- Lack of creativity
- Public domain
- Ineligible applicant.
These are just a few of the reasons the Copyright Office might deny an application. There are others.
In some cases, the Copyright Office may cancel a registration after having granted it. This can happen if it determines that the application should not have been granted for some reason. For example, if it determines that the application contained incorrect information, the Copyright Office may cancel the registration.
You have a right to challenge the denial or cancellation of a copyright registration. If you find yourself in this situation, contact Minnesota attorney Thomas James.
DMCA Notices and Subpoenas
In some cases, getting a website to stop publishing infringing content may be as important as getting money damages. To many clients, it may be more important. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) gives copyright owners a way to get website owners and other online service providers to take down infringing content. The DMCA also gives website owners and other online service providers a right to “stick to their guns” in the face of a take-down notice, in some cases.
Cokato lawyer Thomas James knows how to use DMCA take-down notices and Section 512 subpoenas to get infringing content removed. Whether you want to serve a notice or need to respond to one, Thomas James may be able to help you.
Contracts
Content creators sometimes want to earn money by allowing someone else to use their creations. Conversely, a business owner may want to give somebody else the task of creating content, or may want to use content that someone else has already created. There are three ways to do these things.
Works made for hire
A work made for hire is a work that somebody creates for another person. If the contract is written correctly (and at the right time), a work made for hire is immediately owned by the person for whom the work was created. The person who actually created it does not own the copyright. As a result, there is no need for the content creator to transfer the copyright or grant the person a license.
Not everything one person creates for another is a work made for hire, however. Under the Copyright Act, a work made for hire must be either:
- a work created by an employee for the employer; or
- a specially commissioned work to be used as a contribution to a collective work, a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, test material, or an atlas.
If it doesn’t fit into one of these categories, a work is not a work made for hire, even if it was created with the intention that somebody else would own the copyright as soon as it was completed.
A written, signed contract is necessary. The only exception is when the creator is an employee of the person for whom the work is created.
Cokato lawyer Tom James can help you
Assignments
Another way to make someone else the owner of the copyright in a work is to assign the copyright to the person.
Licenses
Sometimes a copyright owner wants to hold onto the copyright while letting somebody else use it. This is done by entering into a license agreement.
A license agreement needs to address a wide variety of things. For example, it will need to be very clear about the particular uses the licensee can make of the work. Will the licensee only have the right to copy it for personal use? to display it on a website? to make new works based on it? Will this right be exclusive? How long will it last? What kind of royalty, if any, will the licensee need to pay, and when? What happens if the work infringes somebody else’s copyright and the licensee is sued? The license agreement should address these and a variety of other things.
Cokato lawyer Thomas James has experience drafting each of these kinds of contracts. As your attorney, Tom James will work hard to ensure the contract best protects your rights and interests.
Claims
Is somebody infringing your copyright? Have you been accused of infringing someone else’s copyright? Cokato lawyer Thomas James at the Law Office of Tom James may be able to help you. Get in touch.
Interested in learning more about copyrights and trademarks? Check the Courses page.
Trademarks
Federal registration is important for several reasons. It creates a presumption of validity and ownership. It gives the world constructive notice of the claim of trademark rights. It gives the owner a presumptively exclusive right to use the trademark in the United States. It provides a basis for suing for infringement or dilution in federal court. It provides a basis for registering the mark in other countries. It enables the U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing goods. Most important of all, though, is that it helps you keep your trademark rights.
Many businesses think they will save money by applying for trademarks themselves, without an attorney. One-half or more of U.S. trademark registration applications, however, are denied on the first try. Doing it yourself, or using a flat-fee “trademark mill” service you’ve found online often ends up costing a person much more time, delay, and money in the long run. Minnesota attorney Thomas James has many years of experience with copyright and trademark registration.
Most valuable asset
If you ask the CEO of a Fortune 500 company like Coca-Cola — or the owner of any successful business, for that matter — what its most valuable asset is, he or she will probably tell you it is the company’s trademark. It represents the goodwill of a business. It’s what draws potential buyers to a particular company instead of its competitors. For this reason, both new and established businesses should take the time to ensure that they are doing everything that needs to be done to protect their trademarks. At the same time, they should ensure that they are not infringing other people’s trademarks.
Cokato lawyer Tom James knows trademark registration
Cokato lawyer Tom James has experience helping clients register their trademarks with the United States Trademark Office, whether they are word, design (logo) or combination marks. Contact Tom James
What is a trademark?
A trademark is any word, typographic character, symbol or device or combination of one or more of these, that is used by a person or business entity in commerce to identify the source of the goods or services, and to distinguish them from goods or services manufactured or sold by others. It can be a word, characters, or a logo or design. Architecture, packaging and product design can also be trademarks. In some cases, even a particular kind of motion, sound, color, or odor might serve as a trademark.
The key concepts in trademark law are use, identification of source, and likelihood of confusion. Trademark law is concerned with deciding whether and how to protect a claim of an exclusive right to use something as an identifier of the source of a particular product or service. The exclusive right to use something as a source-identifier includes the right to prevent others from using confusingly similar marks.
Kinds of marks
A trademark is a word, logo, etc. that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods.
A service mark is a word, logo, etc. that identifies and distinguishes the source of services.
In everyday usage, however, trademark usually is intended to refer to a mark for either goods or services, not just goods. A service mark, on the other hand, is only used to identify the source of a service, not the source of a product.
The USPTO also allows registration of three other kinds of marks, as well: certification marks, collective marks, and collective membership marks.
Certification marks certify the nature or quality of goods or services– e.g., regional or other origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy. It is a mark which the owner permits another to use only if the person’s goods or services meet the required standard. GOOD HOUSEKEEPING SEAL OF APPROVAL is an example.
Collective marks are used by members of a group to identify their goods or services. “FTD” is an example of a collective mark. It signifies that the goods being sold are being sold by a business that is a member of the Florists’ Transworld Delivery organization.
A collective membership mark is a mark that is used by members of a club, organization, cooperative, association, or other group to indicate membership in it. CPA, for example, is a collective mark indicating membership in the Society of Certified Public Accountants. AAA is a collective membership mark for members of the American Automobile Association.
Minnesota attorney Thomas James can help with the registration of these kinds of marks with the USPTO, as well as the more traditional service marks and trademarks. Contact experienced trademark lawyer Tom James.
Contact Cokato Lawyer Thomas James
Cokato lawyer Tom James has experience helping clients register trademarks. He has helped many clients register word, design (logo) and combination marks with the United States Trademark Office. Get in touch!
Copyright/Trademark Combinations
Sometimes a work, or part of it, may be protected as both a copyright and a trademark. A drawing that also serves as a company’s logo, for example, or a cartoon character that is or becomes associated with a company or a product, a song title or a phrase in a lyric that consumers associate with a certain performing artist. As both a copyright and a trademark lawyer, Minnesota attorney Thomas James at the Law Office of Tom James can help you protect your rights and interests when your case involves, or might involve, both kinds of claims.
Resources compiled by Cokato lawyer Tom James
Visit the Resources page for an extensive list of links to helpful online resources and sources of information about copyrights, trademark and the registration of claims in them.
The online copyright application, copyright registration service agreement, group registration for online works, group registration of photographs and unpublished works, and group registration of sound recordings forms are in the process of being updated.
