Expert Blog

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LexisNexis is a provider that combines information and technology in order to educate professionals in legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting, and academic markets (LexisNexis, 2012).  LexisNexis provides many podcasts in order to share information with its professionals and I recently listened to one on IP laws.  On this episode, Walter Palmer and Cristina Pinheiro, talk about the developments of IP laws in Brazil in 2010.  They focused on Trademark, Copyright, and Patent laws, and how they have changed over the years, and how they hope to change in the future.  There was something very interesting to me about music copyrights in Brazil.  Palmer talked about how it is illegal in Brazil to buy a CD from the store, take it home, burn it on your computer, and then make a copy to a blank CD.  Something else very interesting about this podcast was the discussion that took place about Law No. 9.610.  This Law on Copyright was originated in 1988, but was not official until February 19, 1998.  It took the government ten years to come to an agreement on what copyright laws and punishments needed to be in the Law.  Brazil still has a lot of work to do in order to finalize the IP laws to something everyone is satisfied with.  They are hosting the 2016 Olympics and are trying to finalize most of these laws before this event.

Industry Liabilities

When dealing with any business, it is important to become knowledgeable about the different intellectual property issues that can affect your business.  In the entertainment industry, these things happen everyday, so it is important to protect yourself and to make sure you research others in the industry as well.  This will help you avoid infringing on others belongings and having to deal with a lawsuit.  While researching the entertainment industry on legal controversies, I found three lawsuits that taught me valuable lessons, and made me aware that paying attention to small details can help prevent me from infringing upon others.

In March of 2012, Power Rangers owners sued Michael Alen, the owner of “Power Hoodiez,” for infringing its copyright and trademarks (Gardner, 2012).  SCG Power Ranger LLC sued Alen over lookalike-hooded sweatshirts that had similar design and symmetry to its owned intellectual property (Gardner, 2012).  The hoodies have been displayed on many websites, are being sold for $85, and SGC says that Alen “never got permission to use Power Rangers IP in connection with the sweatshirts” (Gardner, 2012).  SCG also feels that the hoodies have formed confusion in the marketplace and that Alen should be punished (Gardner, 2012).  The clothing is not the item protected by copyright; it is “any pictorial graphic, or sculptural authorship that can be identified separately from the utilitarian aspects of an object” (Gardner, 2012).  This lawsuit shows me that research and permission must be done before releasing a product to the public.  If Alen would have asked permission from SCG, he might have been able to sell his product with no problem.  It seems to me that SCG was more upset that Alen felt he could just release a product, with a pattern that they made recognizable, and was not even asked permission for using it.  With a lot of designs, artists take a lot of time and effort to make something that is hopefully so recognizable, that the moment you see it your think of one product.  When I first saw the hoodies, I thought Power Rangers.  You can like a TV show, like a design, but you can’t take someone’s trademarked design and make a profit off of it, without permission.