Poor Man’s Copyright

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A frequent comment I hear when talking with musicians is that they think mailing a copy of their music to themselves will work just like a copyright registration, but cheaper. This is sometimes known as a "Poor Man's copyright." While this might (and I use the term loosely" be helpful from an evidence standpoint, it doesn't really help with who created it and it will likely run into all kinds of evidentiary problems. Writers are much better off going ahead and filling out the copyright application. By filing a registration you set yourself up to collect attorney's fees and potentially higher damages if you have to file a lawsuit. By the way, in order to even get into a court on a claim of copyright infringement you have to file a registration, but if you wait to long to register you may lose out on some forms of damages.The better advice is to always put together a...
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Morals Clause

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What does a "morals clause do?MoralityThe basic idea is simple - if you are in the public eye and you do something stupid and doing that stupid thing makes the purpose of the contract frustrated, then the other party can say I'm canceling the deal. For example, lets say the Queen of England enters into a contract with a department store to endorse its new clothing line "Queen." She might have a clause in her deal that says something likeQueen agrees to conduct herself with due regard to public conventions and morals, and agrees that she will not do or commit any act or thing that will tend to degrade her in society or bring her into public hatred, contempt, scorn or ridicule, or that will tend to shock, insult or offend the community or ridicule public morals or decency.She then gets arrested for soliciting men in a downtown Minneapolis hotel. The Department store has an interest in protecting its...
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Minimum Contacts in A Virtual World

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This article was orignally printed in Minnesota Bench & Bar (February 1998) Each month thousands of American businesses create new Internet sites in order to market and distribute products and services nationally or internationally. The ease of using the Internet for global marketing has struck down many of the previous financial and legal hurdles that companies were required to clear. Consequently, many businesses are rushing forward without considering the possibilities that they may be subjected to the jurisdiction of distant states or nations, and courts increasingly are finding that web pages create the minimum contacts necessary to exercise personal jurisdiction over distant defendants. Thus, the challenge for attorneys is to help businesses use this vibrant medium without being subjected to the jurisdiction of foreign states and countries. The rest of this article can be found at kunklelaw.net...
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