free sco unix

[Adam Vande More]

On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 11:23 PM, Bernt Hansson <bernt at bah.homeip.net>wrote:

> Unless you work the trademark in you have to pay to register the name.
>

I'm not sure by what mean by "work the trademark in" but every business is
entitled to use tm or sm identification without registration.  However by
officially registering it, the business is afforded additional legal rights
and is in a much more defensible position.  Also as most IP lawyers would
say, trademark law is the law of the jungle.  That is to say the biggest
gorilla wins.


> Copyright you get without registration and without payment, and one
> can't give it up.


Again, registration is pretty important if you want to an expanded ability
to legally enforce it.  And you can assign your copyright away.  In fact, I
would recommend to anyone seeking a 3rd party to create content for them to
have copyright assignment to them for basically any project.  You don't want
your web design company to come after you when there's been a falling out
and you're with a different company.  A company owns the copyright when an
employee creates the work, however by default a contracted 3rd party retains
it for any works they created under the contract.

And while we're on the topic of clearing up IP laws, there are two basic
types of patents and they are good for a maxium of 14 or 20 years.  There is
no renewal of patents, when they expire they expire.  Additionally, the
creator(s) of the patent is entitled to the right to patent it regardless of
their employment status.  This means in theory it's possible for your
employer to own the copyright to some code you have created, yet you retain
the patent rights.

This is not official legal advice and you should consult a legal expert who
assumes liability for advice, as I do not.

-- 
Adam Vande More