Final Project: The Questions

All of my questions were regarding to music and the business side of the music industry. This is mainly because I want to own my own multimedia company someday. It is important that I know the law as it concerns me and my rights in the music industry, since I am going to be working in it soon. One of the questions I asked was is it illegal to conduct business under an acronym that is already used by a different company, but has a separate meaning? John responded by saying it likely isn't possible because it is too similar. However, this problem can be solved by conducting a trademark search for marks or names. “A trademark search is an investigation to discover potential conflicts between a proposed mark and an existing one. Generally, done before or at the beginning of a new mark’s use, a trademark search reduces the possibility of inadvertently infringing a mark belonging to someone else.” (Richard Stim) Another question I asked was regarding to how to protect my creations from being used without my consent and also what legal action could I take. I learned in class that I can copyright something to keep others from using it. “A copyright gives the owner of a creative work the right to keep others from unauthorized use of the work.” (Stim) However, copyrights do have limitations, “ Copyright does not protect ideas or facts; it protects only the unique way in which ideas or facts are expressed.”(Stim) Nonetheless, there is one exception to using a copyrighted work without ones permission. This loop hole is fair use. “The fair use doctrine permits the unauthorized use of a copyrighted material if it is used for certain transformative purposes such as criticism, commentary, or parody.”(Stim) “When determining whether an infringement should be excused on the basis of fair use, a court will use several factors including the purpose and character of the use, amount and substantiality or the portion borrowed, and effect of the use on the market for the copyrighted material.” (Stim)