Your Legal Questions About IM -Round 2

mont7071

mont7071

WF Premium Member
Feb 10, 2009
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Portland, OR USA
Back by popular demand, what are your general legal questions about IM? Same rules as before apply, check here for rules and to see if your question was already asked before.

I am looking for GENERAL legal questions only, ones that may apply to other IMers besides just yourself. Anything I say is just one attorney's opinion. Nothing should be construed as official legal advice, nor create an attorney/client relationship. Please don't just PM me your private legal question, if it can't be posted live for everyone's benefit or I don't think its relevant to other IMers, I'm probably not going to answer it.

OK, enough boring disclaimers,you (should) know the rules by now, Fire Away...
 
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Can you copyright some copyright text then sue everyone who uses it for copyright infringement or can copyright text not be copyrighted?
 
Can you copyright some copyright text then sue everyone who uses it for copyright infringement or can copyright text not be copyrighted?©

See you in court mutha fucka!
:)
 
do you think my signature will be problematic during my defense trial, should one of the affiliates i catch defrauding my clients end up in a lake?

/not sure if you handle criminal too
 
If person A lets a domain name lapse and it is purchased by person B and person B utilizes all past content and design of person (A) and has all outbound links going to an attorney site (assumed an affiliate/link relationship) does person A have grounds for a law suit?
 
Demize said:
Can you copyright some copyright text then sue everyone who uses it for copyright infringement or can copyright text not be copyrighted?©

See you in court mutha fucka!
:)
Click to expand...
Can I quote this copyrighted copy-writing question and not be liable for copyright infringement, or is this copy-writing copyrighted?

*sorry OP, not a serious question. i think what you do here is great, keep it up!
 
I have a friend who just doesn't understand what CAN-SPAM mailing entails. He figures that throwing up his name, a P.O. box, and an unsubscribe link means he can crawl sites for emails and just blast away. How do I tell him in legal terms that he's a dumbass. I've tried telling him that the emails he's sending are not opt-in therefore they can be classified as unsolicited spam. (He says if he gets caught he'll just say someone signed up with their emails <-lol@this holding up in court)
 
Demize said:
Can you copyright some copyright text then sue everyone who uses it for copyright infringement or can copyright text not be copyrighted?©

See you in court mutha fucka!
:)
Click to expand...
No I'll see YOU in court!
661_badger.jpg


Sorry don't mean to be shitting all over your thread mont.
Serious question: Can image upload sites get in legal trouble if someone uploads a virus as an image file (ie just change the extension to .jpg and upload it) and link it on other sites?
 
$uperMarketer said:
I have a friend who just doesn't understand what CAN-SPAM mailing entails. He figures that throwing up his name, a P.O. box, and an unsubscribe link means he can crawl sites for emails and just blast away. How do I tell him in legal terms that he's a dumbass. I've tried telling him that the emails he's sending are not opt-in therefore they can be classified as unsolicited spam. (He says if he gets caught he'll just say someone signed up with their emails <-lol@this holding up in court)
Click to expand...

i am not an attorney, the following is a lay understanding.

i'm posting this so OP can spend his time answering the harder questions, if he doesn't mind. we all appreciate his contributions. :)

CAN-SPAM /2003

4.B.2:

(2) REQUIREMENTS — In carrying out this subsection, the Sentencing Commission shall consider providing sentencing enhancements for —
(A) those convicted under section 1037 of title 18, United States Code, who —
(i) obtained electronic mail addresses through improper means, including —
(I) harvesting electronic mail addresses of the users of a website, proprietary service, or other online public forum operated by another person, without the authorization of such person; and
(II) randomly generating electronic mail addresses by computer; or
Click to expand...

In 2008 the FTC approved some revisions to the Act from 2003, saying that a properly registered P.O. box met the "physical address" requirements.

In short, your friend is a moron (as you already knew) and harvesting is never OK. The PO Box and opt-out IS alright, however, so he should stop wasting time harvesting and start buying real opt-in lists.
 
I would appreciate it if you would quickly write up a post entitled...

"The 10 Commandments to FTC Evadement"

1) Stealthy Hosting Accounts, DNS, and Registrant Info
2) ...
3) take it away Mont
 
CourtJester said:
If person A lets a domain name lapse and it is purchased by person B and person B utilizes all past content and design of person (A) and has all outbound links going to an attorney site (assumed an affiliate/link relationship) does person A have grounds for a law suit?
Click to expand...


Registering lapsed domain names in and of itself is not a problem as long as it doesn't have the previous owner's trademarked name in the URL.
Using the site structure/navigation from the previous version is usually alright, but as soon as you use the past content then you have just stepped over the line as far as fair use of copyrighted content.

I've had a client whose business model was to register "dropping" domain names that people didn't renew that had backlinks still pointing at them. A popular method was to "rebuild" the expired domain by using Archive.org to add the old content/page structure back once he renewed it, then do what you are describing. While this client only got a C&D, courts tend to view this as outright copyright infringement, and since it occurs on a domain previously owned by the rightful copyright holder, they could likely force you to transfer the domain back to them. A copyright holder is NOT presumed to have "given up" (i.e. released to the public domain) their copyright right just because they let the domain it happend to be loaded on expire.
 
high risk said:
do you think my signature will be problematic during my defense trial, should one of the affiliates i catch defrauding my clients end up in a lake?

/not sure if you handle criminal too
Click to expand...


Naw I'm pretty sure whacking fraudsters falls under a matter of public policy for the greater good, so you'll probably just get off with a warning. If you do have to kill a few, just drop them in lakes in a different state than where you killed them, that way its a federal jurisdiction issue, and the Feds are too busy with more important things. ;)
 
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mont7071 said:
Naw I'm pretty sure whacking fraudsters falls under a matter of public policy for the greater good, so you'll probably just get off with a warning. If you do have to kill a few, just drop them in lakes in a different state than where you killed them, that way its a federal jurisdiction issue, and the Feds are too busy with more important things. ;)
Click to expand...

i like the cut of your jib.
 
If you use a celebrities name in your domain name but never have a picture of her or anything, can they sue you for profiting off their name?
 
Hey Mont7071, Thanks for this post and the last one, answer which ever questions you know, no need to trouble yourself for the rest. I'm writing these vaguely on purpose, if you want me to elaborate just ask.

1.......
Something I like to do is dilute massive amounts of information in word files, encapsulating the basic ideas/methodologies of the text/audiobook/website I'm consuming.

Would it be illegal in any way to create a new product(e-book for example) that I would sell containing this new stripped down version of another text?

Basically, what do I need to do to the information I'm re-writing to make it 'mine' legally?

2.......
How long do I have to wait before,

2.1 I can legally use the persona of someone, likeness, words, or works in my own business in profit related endeavors? Does copyright extend beyond lifetimes, or is once a person is deceased it's ok to use their face etc..?

2.2 I can Legally use the text/diagrams/pictures of a book, again in business oriented webpages and the like? Do I have to wait until the author dies? The publisher goes out of business?

2.3 The legalities of using sound/recognizable sounds in ads/creatives/websites. Again, what are the indicators that a sound has lost its copyright power? If the whole band is dead, is it ok?

3.......
Video, from YouTube/Internet/Documentaries/Movies
Is it legal to take small clips from the sources named above and create a new works for sale or promotion? Is it like your copyright image description in the last post where I have to substantially change the content being spliced or is amalgamating several clips into a new production considered fair-use?

4.......
If you create a work based on several copyright sources, and it goes viral, for example let's say I made a youtube video, the video itself promotes no business and it's sole purpose is to act as a funnel to a site which does conduct business. Can legal action be brought against the website or only the video?

5.......
Do you have any resources on protection offered by news entities, blogs, review, non-profit based websites? I've heard various things about each, but haven't been able to sit down and read the ups and downs of operating under such umbrellas.

Hopefully you'll be writing an e-book to market, if you need ammo I could write a lot more of these questions and I'm willing to work in conjunction with yourself for the simple reason that I'd like answers.

Thanks again.
 
What measures would I need to take as a hosting reseller to absolve myself of responsibility for a hosted affiliate getting served. Am I under legal obligation to provide logs/IP/owners/etc and other stuff when asked, even if I were to just suspend the offending account?
 
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