On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Thursday, July 23, 2015. One of the main defenses against a copyright infringement claim is fair use. This means, essentially, that while a copyright was infringed, the user is allowed to do so. This may seem contrary to the exclusive rights given to an author of original creative works, however, fair use is not meant to entirely remove those rights, but to simply permit certain limited and "transformative" uses of copyrighted material, including commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. To determine whether the fair use doctrine applies, courts will look to [...]

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Copyright is a form of intellectual property applicable to any creative work that is both fixed in some tangible medium and at least minimally creative, or original. Works that may receive copyright protection include: literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software, live performances, architectural works, choreographic works, and television or sound broadcasts. Creators of such works are granted exclusive rights in their works at the time of creation. For example, whenever you write a blog post or make a drawing or other artwork, you automatically own [...]