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Free Mickey? (Don’t Be Goofy)

LexBlog IP

Freed from the shackles of copyright, Walt Disney’s iconic rodent was now in the public domain and, therefore, available for everyone to copy. It is no surprise that the legalities of the public domain are more complicated than the headlines suggest. But not so fast.

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Which Type of Intellectual Property Protection Do I Need?

Art Law Journal

Copyright is the type of Intellectual Property most often associated with artistic works like fine art, movies, or books. Copyright only protects: original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. For any works created before 1989 and 1924, use the flowchart below. © Steve Schlackman (1975).

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Which Types of IP (Intellectual Property) Protection Do Artists Need?

Art Law Journal

At a fundamental level, each type of Intellectual Property focuses on a different creative work: copyright protects visual art and writings, trademark protects the names, symbols, or slogans for products or services, and patent protects inventions. Copyright only protects: original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium.

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Prince, Prince, Prints: Will the Supreme Court Revisit Fair Use?

LexBlog IP

The Warhol Foundation argues that what it calls the Second Circuit’s “visual similarity” approach—which focuses on assessing the visual similarities between the two works to the exclusion of assessing their respective meanings or messages—conflicts with the Supreme Court’s instructions in Google and Campbell v. for Visual Arts, Inc.