Legal Authority

The way I went about finding my lawyer is quite simple, Google. I started doing a search for intellectual property lawyers. Needless to say a lot came up under this so I started going through all of them to determine which ones would suit me better since my field is photography. Finding one that would benefit me was proving to be harder than I thought. Sure it was easy just to grab ten lawyers’ numbers and contact info without too much thought. I could already start picking up on the order I would contact them in, based upon how big the law firm was to even their picture. Yes their picture might be a little superficial but I did it. I first contacted one that was involved with photography, but he didn’t pick up so I left a message hoping to hear back from him. Well after a couple of days I never did and figured I would try calling again. No answer this time again, but this time I didn’t leave a voicemail. For my next try I thought I would try the opposite sex, well at least this time I got an answer but it was just her secretary and she wasn’t about to do me any favors so I got the lawyers voicemail and I left a message. I should’ve just hung up, but thought to try. I didn’t try again calling anyone else for a little while after that. Thought it might be bad luck or something. The next person I did try did pick up however and on the first ring. This lawyers’ name was John Lamersten, and he solely dealt with intellectual propriety, which is exactly what this project called for. Since “Intellectual property laws consist of several separate and overlapping legal disciplines, each with its own characteristics and terminology.”(Patent, Copyright and trademark. Page 5) I knew that Mr. Lambersten would help me understand the law a little better.

The Questions

My questions are formatted simply. They are to the point. I saw no reason to give a bunch of lead in to the actual question. Since with lawyers time is money more than with anyone else it seems. Even though mine were short as I got to the last question he asked if this was going to take much longer because he’s hourly rate is $250, I thought that was kind of rude, because I had stated in the beginning that it wouldn’t take very long and in all the phone conversation was only 14 minutes long, which in the whole scheme of things isn’t very long. Then add on top of that the answers were short. Below you will find how the conversation went

1.     How does one go about properly protecting their own intellectual property in photography? (E.g. a photograph)

For print material and digital files they can be copyrighted.

2.      Is it a good idea to keep a lawyer on retainer once my business takes off? Then if so how much can I expect to pay for one?

3.     What’s it really take to protect my photos? Is my name, copyright symbol and the year really enough?

Yes that is but you want to register the work before infringement occurs. Startofery infringers. Harder after the fact to prove actual damages have occurred from the work that wasn’t copyrighted. His answer makes me think of this quote, “As a general rule, and infringement will be deemed deliberate if it begins after the mark in question has been federally registered, because the infringer is deemed to have notice of the existing mark”(Patent, Copyright, and Trademark. Page 412)

4.     Can a particular work flow technique for a photo be patented or protected in some way? So that at least credit can be given to the creator.

Anything has to be Novel and non obvious to be copyrighted and or trademarked. Since you’re dealing with Photoshop it’s obvious. Anyone else can take a similar route and end up with the same or at least close end results. “An invention must have novelty to qualify for a patent. In this conext, “novelty” means that the invention is different from the prior art”(Patent, Copyright and Trademark. Page 119)

5.     One day I may have a studio but right now I run out of where I live. When it’s time to move up, what is the proper process to take and when should a lawyer of any kind be involved?

No, it’s not necessary unless you’re trying to change a lease agreement, then maybe but it’s for sure not required.

6.     What are the consequences if someone uses my work in print that promotes something that has nothing to do with the photo? Is that misrepresentation worse for them?

Well, the fact that it is copied is infringement, or that it could be tm. No rep to infrig, copyright rights.

7.     Are there any negative side effects of protecting ones property?

No, you’re protecting who can use it, and how it is used. Licensing terms can however I define them.

8.     In terms of paper work, how much is involved with everything?

None since it’s all switched to online there isn’t much involved with doing it, so therefore it doesn’t take much to do so. Different forms are used to trademark and copyright. Copyright is $35

9.     What does it take to set up a trademark?

Going online and filling out the appropriate “paperwork”.

10. Have you ever had to personally deal with a situation that involved your own property and if so how did you?

John had never had to deal with it personally. However if he had he could obviously choose to represent himself but would use another attorney. So it would be kept less personal. It could take years to get a verdict for something like this.

Reasoning of the Law

The logic of the conversation was pretty much straight to the point, nothing wasted on small chitchat. He answered my questions directly and when something was out of the realm of his area he let me know, saying he was just an intellectual property lawyer. Which was good, but as a lawyer he should have a better understanding of all laws in my opinion. I wanted to hear more about the areas outside of intellectual property because that still has very much to do with law as a whole. Other than that he told me things correctly, and while he didn’t give me too much to go on he gave me what I asked for. However I still wish I could’ve gotten more out of the whole conversation. You might respond with why didn’t you call another lawyer, and my answer would be time and I simply don’t like talking to random people on the phone.

Rule of the Law

My conversation went a little like this. Hi is this Mr. Lambersten? I got a yes it is, and then went on to say My name is Chris and I’m a student at the Art Institute and I was wondering if I could ask you questions about intellectual property for one of my classes. I got the green light to and then I went on to ask him my ten questions. I frantically scribbled his responses down on paper then realized I should just type them. He really empathized how important it was to copyright my photographs, to actually go online and do it, not just through a symbol on my photos. He brought this up more than once through out the conversation. He answered my questions a little short but still managed to answer them. I might have missed a few things in my desperation to type everything out as quickly as I could and that’s how it went for the 14 minutes we talked. At the end he got a little impatient so I was happy to get off the phone after he dropped his hourly rate line on me… It’s good to offer up yourself for free every now and then and 14 minutes of one time isn’t that much. While I still have good things to say about Mr. Lambersten, they could be better and more if I had had a little more time with him. Maybe it would’ve been different in person than on the phone? I know I could’ve gotten down the answers better that’s for sure.