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Tag Archives: Copyright

August Download Cases

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by John Taggart in Copyright, District of Oregon, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Oregon

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Ann L. Aiken, BitTorrent, Carl D. Crowell, Copyright, Copyright Litigation, Janice M. Stewart, Litigation Update, Michael W. Mosman, Stacie F. Beckerman, Thomas M. Coffin

During the month of August, 23 copyright or trademark complaints were filed in the District of Oregon. 22 of them (96%) were movie download cases filed by Carl Crowell.

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01479
File Date: Thursday, August 06, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01481
File Date: Thursday, August 06, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01482-AA
File Date: Thursday, August 06, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01483-AA
File Date: Thursday, August 06, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01480-AA
File Date: Thursday, August 06, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01542
File Date: Friday, August 14, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01544
File Date: Friday, August 14, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01547
File Date: Friday, August 14, 2015
Plaintiff: Automata Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Michael W. Mosman

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01545-TC
File Date: Friday, August 14, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01546-AA
File Date: Friday, August 14, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01587
File Date: Thursday, August 20, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01593-AA
File Date: Friday, August 21, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01594-AA
File Date: Friday, August 21, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01595-AA
File Date: Friday, August 21, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01596-AA
File Date: Friday, August 21, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01597-TC
File Date: Friday, August 21, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01631
File Date: Friday, August 28, 2015
Plaintiff: Automata Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Michael W. Mosman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01632-SB
File Date: Friday, August 28, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01633-SB
File Date: Friday, August 28, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01634-ST
File Date: Friday, August 28, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

July Download Cases

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by John Taggart in Copyright, District of Oregon, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Oregon

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Ann L. Aiken, BitTorrent, Cobbler Nevada LLC, Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Copyright Litigation, Dallas Buyers Club LLC, Glacier Films USA Inc., Janice M. Stewart, John V. Acosta, Michael J. McShane, Stacie F. Beckerman, Survivor Productions Inc., Thomas M. Coffin

The Court continued to be mired in BitTorrent download cases in July, which accounted for 23 of the 25 copyright/trademark complaints filed in Oregon.

Here are the download complaints filed in Oregon in July 2015:

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01231-ST
File Date: Thursday, July 02, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01233-ST
File Date: Thursday, July 02, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01283
File Date: Friday, July 10, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01285
File Date: Friday, July 10, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01286
File Date: Friday, July 10, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01287
File Date: Friday, July 10, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01288
File Date: Friday, July 10, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01302-AA
File Date: Monday, July 13, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01303-AA
File Date: Monday, July 13, 2015
Plaintiff: Survivor Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01327
File Date: Friday, July 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01332-SB
File Date: Friday, July 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc.
Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01330-AA
File Date: Friday, July 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01331-AA
File Date: Friday, July 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01386-ST
File Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01384-TC
File Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01385-TC
File Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01387-MC
File Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Michael J. McShane

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01388-AA
File Date: Friday, July 24, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

June Download Cases

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, District of Oregon, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Oregon

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Ann L. Aiken, Automata Productions Inc., BitTorrent, Carl D. Crowell, Cobbler Nevada LLC, Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Copyright Litigation, Countryman Nevada LLC, Dallas Buyers Club LLC, Glacier Films USA Inc., Janice M. Stewart, John V. Acosta, Marco A. Hernandez, Michael H. Simon, Michael W. Mosman, Stacie F. Beckerman, Thomas M. Coffin

As there are so many, going forward we’ll simply list download cases in one monthly post rather than individual posts. Fun fact – 20 of the 21 copyright/trademark complaints filed in Oregon this month were BitTorrent download cases.

Here are the complaints filed in June 2015:

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-00977-TC
File Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-00975
File Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-00974
File Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Plaintiff: Automata Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Marco A. Hernandez

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-00973
File Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Plaintiff: Automata Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Marco A. Hernandez

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-00972
File Date: Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Plaintiff: Automata Productions Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Michael W. Mosman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01043
File Date: Thursday, June 11, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01042-AC
File Date: Thursday, June 11, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01041-ST
File Date: Thursday, June 11, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01040-SB
File Date: Thursday, June 11, 2015
Plaintiff: Glacier Films USA Inc., Glacier Films 1 LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01039-SI
File Date: Thursday, June 11, 2015
Plaintiff: Countryman Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Judge Michael H. Simon

Court Case Number: 6:15-cv-01080-AA
File Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Chief Judge Ann L. Aiken

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01081
File Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Dallas Buyers Club LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01078
File Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01077
File Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01075
File Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01186-ST
File Date: Friday, June 26, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01185-ST
File Date: Friday, June 26, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01184-ST
File Date: Friday, June 26, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01183
File Date: Friday, June 26, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Court Case Number: 3:15-cv-01182
File Date: Friday, June 26, 2015
Plaintiff: Cobbler Nevada LLC
Plaintiff Counsel: Carl D. Crowell, Drew P. Taylor of Crowell Law
Defendant: Doe
Cause: Copyright Infringement
Court: District of Oregon
Judge: Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart

Planning Your Digital Estate

22 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, Intellectual Property, Oregon, Social Media

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Copyright, Digital Estate

I’ve written previously on the importance of planning beyond one’s own death. Simple planning now can prevent unnecessary headaches after you’ve passed. This is typically accomplished by preparing a will and/or obtaining life insurance. But with the Internet and cloud computing increasingly dominating our daily lives, more adults are taking their lives online, often through social networking, online gaming, or blogging. Consumers shop, pay bills, and bank online. Important accounts, documents, files and photos are now often managed exclusively online, almost always behind usernames and passwords.

Dbrainjacko you know what would happen to your blog if you die? What happens to the passwords and content of your multiple email accounts? Who, if anyone, would you want to control your Twitter, Facebook or, most importantly, World of Warcraft account? Think about these questions now and speak to an attorney who can help you plan your digital estate.

Here are a few general guidelines from the MoneyGrubbingLawyer:

Email Accounts
As a general rule, you own your email and electronic correspondence and you can leave this to whomever you choose in your will. However, if your family or executors don’t know your email passwords, they may have trouble retrieving it. Gmail and Hotmail will both give access to email contents upon proof of death and proof of relationship.

Facebook and Social Networking Accounts
Facebook and other social networking accounts are a little different than email accounts as the information on your profile isn’t as private as your emails – your profile is accessible and viewable by anyone who you’ve granted access. Your profile also appears as a friend of countless others, and will continue to appear until the account is either closed or your friends delete you.

Myspace advises that their policy is to allow access to a deceased’s account upon verification of death, and a significant number of Myspace profiles remain active as memorials. Facebook also allows for the “memorialization” of accounts, where the accounts remain open as a tribute. There’s even a form you can use to report a user who has died. However, Facebook won’t release login information, so the account can’t be accessed, changed or updated.

Blogs and Online Content
An additional consideration for managing your digital estate arises for those of us who run blogs. Much like social networking and email accounts, online service providers such as WordPress and Blogger are reluctant to release login details, even to an executor. If your blog is hosted on your own server or through a third-party hosting service, the task of accessing the site is further complicated and in some cases may be close to impossible.

If you’ve got a blog, you’ve also got intellectual property including copyright to your writings and any trademarks associated with your site. You may also have photographs, music, and other works that are published and maintained online. Copyright generally lasts for 70 years after the death of the author, so there’s a significant tail period of copyright protection that vests in your estate and, just like any other form of property, IP can be given to a specific individual in your will. If the will does not specify who gets your intellectual property, the standard rules of distribution apply.

Online Worlds
Users spend a great deal time of time creating and managing identities in online worlds like World of Warcraft or Second Life. But what will happen to these accounts upon your death? World of Warcraft will transfer ownership of an account to an immediate family member upon proof of death, and the community has even been known to host virtual funerals. Second Life will turn over account information upon receiving proper notice and documentation.

wowdeath

As with other estate planning stories, the moral is to plan ahead. Here are your action items for planning the disposition of your digital information upon your death:

  1. Select a “digital” executor, someone who you trust to carry out your wishes with respect to your online information
  2. Tell your executor what you want done and give him or her the information needed to carry out your wishes.
  3. Prepare a list of your email and social networking accounts along with your login data and brief details on how to access the accounts.
  4. Update your will to include specific provisions for who will take ownership of your intellectual property and any data that you leave behind.

Oregon claims copyright in the public record (again)

04 Wednesday Nov 2009

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, Legislation, Oregon

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Attorney General, Boing, Copyright

You may recall last year that the state of Oregon tried to claim copyright in preventing others from republishing Oregon laws. Well, they’re at it again.  Now, Oregon’s Attorney General is claiming copyright on the Attorney General’s Public Record and Public Meeting Manual.

See Boing Boing for the full story (and video).

oregon

Copyright and Trademark Issues For Blogs

21 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by Kenan Farrell in Copyright, Intellectual Property, Oregon, Trademark

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Copyright, Intellectual Property, Trademark

This post begins a series dealing specifically with the legal issues that bloggers should be thinking about. First up are intellectual property issues, helping you understand your rights to link to information or graphics from other sources, quote from articles and blogs, or otherwise use someone else’s copyrighted works. It will also discuss the appropriate use of trademarks in blogs (both your marks and those of others).

I. Overview of Intellectual Property

What is copyright?

Copyright gives a creative person control over the use of an original work of authorship. A copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce a work, prepare derivative works, distribute copies or perform a work publicly. In the world of bloggers, original works of authorship can include text, images, audio or video creations (and a whole host of other things).

What is trademark?

A trademark is a distinctive sign or indicator used to identify that the products or services with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities.

So think:

Pepsi®, McDonalds®, Apple®

Or:

pepsi logo mcdonalds apple logo

When you either hear/read the word mark or see the logo mark, you immediately associate that trademark with a particular product or service. Obviously, these are examples of very strong trademarks.

II. Copyright

Copyright issues start to come into play when you publish material created by others on your blog or, conversely, when someone else republishes material that you posted on your blog or website.

Copyright law applies to the reposting of text, images, audio and video. If you’re posting somebody else’s original work, you’re likely violating one of the exclusive rights mentioned above. But as you, me and anyone else on the Internet knows, people are copy/pasting, hyperlinking and cross-referencing all over the world, all the time. Are they all liable for copyright infringement? Luckily, the Copyright Act has a built-in exception called “fair use” that allows you to use other people’s copyrighted works for certain, enumerated purposes. These include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research. So, for example, if you are commenting on or criticizing an item that someone else has posted, and use a quote from that source, that’s probably fair use.

The following factors are considered in a fair use analysis:

  1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Keep in mind that the law favors “transformative” use. In other words, if you’re reposting another person’s original work, it’s more likely to be fair use if you’re using that work in a different manner or for a different purpose than the original. While you may borrow directly from another source, adding your own commentary and content is better than strict copying. Likewise, it’s better to repost only a small portion of someone else’s work than the work in its entirety.

bloggerdilemma

If you feel that you’ve gone too far in your copying, you probably have. Consider whether you’re able to share the same information but in a different way (i.e. your own words). If you can’t, that’s strong evidence it’s a fair use. Don’t worry if you’re confused…this is a gray area in copyright law that isn’t totally clear to anyone at the moment. If you have specific questions about your use of someone else’s creative works or someone else is using your works, contact a copyright professional (who should be well-versed on legal developments and what typically constitutes fair use) to provide a more detailed analysis.

Barneyª: Sharing is Caring DVD Box ArtAlso, on a practical note, if you’re using someone else’s text or images and they contact you to ask you to remove them, you probably just want to go ahead and do it. After all, there are lots of different ways to express an idea and usually hundreds of equally wonderful pictures to adorn your blog. On the other side, if you find someone else using your text or images, take a deep breath before contacting them and remember what Barney says about sharing:

III. Trademark

Let’s talk first about your own trademarks. Often you’ll have spent good time and money developing and protecting your trademarks. It would be a shame to lose your rights through improper use. Proper use enhances a mark’s ability to identify the origin of products or services, and minimizes the likelihood that a mark will become generic, or be abandoned unintentionally. Make sure you always use a proper trademark notice (™ for common law rights, ® if you’ve obtained registration) and remember to use your trademark as an adjective. Escalator was once a registered trademark but rights were lost when everyone started using the term as a noun to describe just any ol’ moving stairway. The mark no longer brought to mind its owner as the single origin of the product.

It’s probably just as common that you’ll post someone else’s trademark…I know this blog, as a news and information source, posts 3rd-party trademarks fairly regularly. This is typically permissible, because while trademark law prevents you from using someone else’s trademark to sell your competing products, it doesn’t stop you from using the trademark to refer to the trademark owner or its products. That is called “nominative fair use,” and is permitted if using the trademark is necessary to identify the products, services, or company you’re talking about, and you don’t use the mark to suggest the company endorses you. Again, bloggers get by on an exception to the rule…we are living in a gray legal realm. Consult a trademark professional if you’re concerned about your use of somebody else’s trademark.

trademarknotice

The next post in the series will discuss defamation. The post will explore your options when somebody has posted something false and damaging about you, including some common defenses. Until next time, sticks and stones, my friends!

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