New York New York Legal Blog

Earlier this month, over 50,000 copyrighted works entered the public domain. It would not be surprising to know that some in New York may not even understand what that means since the last time books, movies, music and other created works entered the public domain was 1998. Nonetheless, many people have been waiting for the day when films by Charlie Chaplin, books by F. Scott Fitzgerald and songs by George Gershwin would outlive the protections afforded by U.S. copyright law.

Works in the public domain are available for the public to use without fear of violating someone's intellectual property rights. Copyright protection has an expiration date, originally about 75 years or one generation after the creator dies. Many of the works released at the beginning of the new year should have been released to the public in 1999. However, the year before, Congress extended the copyright protection for an additional 20 years.

Intellectual property law is complex to begin with, but certain claims often create a gray area that requires legal action to clarify. Intellectual property law, including trademarks and patents, allows one person or group to take legal action if someone else attempts to use and profit from a protected work. Trademark protection includes items such as a symbol, design or word that identifies the product. However, it may not always be clear how far that protection may go.

While most claims of trademark violation involve a financial interest, some entities have attempted to trademark words or phrases that are precious to groups for reasons other than money. For example, New York fans of Disney's "The Lion King" may enjoy singing along with the song "Hakuna Matata," a Swahili phrase that Disney trademarked 24 years ago. However, Zimbabwean activists now say Disney had no right to claim this phrase and that capitalizing on it is an insult to the Swahili people.

As someone who enjoys using social media to express your interests and to show off your products, you're aware that there is always a threat of someone using your work without your permission. Even if you have a patent, there is a chance that the patent could be infringed upon.

The bad news about having an infringed patent is that it makes you less likely to be competitive in the market. Others might start making products identical to yours. Even if they're not identical, they might be so similar that consumers don't mind whom they buy the product from. This is extremely harmful to businesses.

As someone who works in design, you know it's possible to have your work stolen. It might be someone who takes the image from the internet and copies it onto a canvas for sale, or it could be someone who prints it on a T-shirt for a campaign and ends up making money off the sales.

Whatever happens, you know it's not legal for them to use your work. You might just be one person, but you do have the right to take legal action against someone who violates your copyright. There are some steps you can take to protect yourself.