Legal Authority

Legal Authority: How I made contact, found this person and why they are a good choice.

Well we all know how busy life can be, this being said I thought that it would be easiest for me to try and use a lawyer that I already knew rather than try and find one that I didn't. As it turns out this was not any easier to be able to meet up and get my questions answered. Now the lawyer that I chose to use is not an intellectual law lawyer, so why does this person make a good choice for answering my questions about intellectual property. This is a good question and my answer for that is this person is a long time friend of mine and has been in or around the law field for as long as I’ve known them. I also trust this individual which is more than most people can say about a lawyer. So I of coarse knowing the lawyer call him up and asked if he would be willing to answer a few questions for me for a school project. He agreed and then came the tricky part, finding time to be able to meet up. The name of the lawyer I chose is Taylor Waite and he works for Peel Brimley LLP. While Taylor is not an intellectual property Lawyer I feel that he is able to give me good honest answers for the questions I have for him to answer.

Week 7 EOC: 10 Lawyers and Websites

1. Weide & Miller, ltd http://weidemiller.com/
2. Morishita Law Firm, L.L.C. http://www.morishitalawfirm.com/
3. McDonald Carano Wilson LLP http://www.mcdonaldcarano.com/index.html
4. Watson Rounds http://www.watsonrounds.com/
5. Law Offices of Philip A. Kantor, P.C. http://thekantorlawfirm.com/
6. Parsons Behle & Latimer http://www.parsonsbehlelaw.com/PracticeAreas/Intellectual-Property-Litigation.asp
7. Odunze & Kang LLP http://www.aok-law.com/
8. Weiss & Moy, P.C. http://www.weissiplaw.com/
9. Hankin Patent Law http://www.hankinpatentlaw.com/
10. Howard & Howard http://www.howardandhoward.com/

Week 7 EOC: Intellectual Property Questions?

1. What is the first step someone should take if or when they find someone else using their intellectual property without permission?
2. What is the best way(s) to protect your intellectual property?
3. What is the best way to protect my intellectual property when working under contract for someone?
4. What is some common legal issues while doing freelance work?
5. Do all states deal with intellectual property the same? How do they differ?
6. Do you know the rough percentage of cases that are found in favor of the original creator concerning intellectual property?
7. Doe intellectual properties stay the same in digital vs. printed form?
8. When is it necessary to trademark an Intellectual property?
9. At what point of change to an intellectual property does that intellectual property become your own?
10. What is a typical time frame of intellectual property case to be settled?

Week 6 EOC : Illicit

What do you think of when you think of the black market? What kind of people do you associate when you think of the black market? The black market has changed drastically over the years and in today’s marketplace the trade of illegal goods ranges from drugs and firearms to merchandise like purses, sunglasses and computer or automotive parts. Some of the goods being illegally traded are nothing more than knock offs of the real items made in back shops and warehouses. Many of these places are man powered by people who could be considered modern day slaves. Many people buy these goods on the streets of major cities never giving a second thought to the networks of criminals behind the movement of these goods. Have you ever bought a knock off watch or a pair of sunglasses with a logo of an expensive brand for a cheap price from a peddler on the street? Did you ever stop to think that you could be in a way funding mass organized crime? The war on this type of criminal activity is reaching astounding levels. The scary thing about it is that governments around the world are losing the battle, with only a few victories in-between. These networks of criminals have reached out to more than you would think corrupting individuals in power and in high places. Sometimes even corrupting those who have been elected to enforce the laws and crack down on this type of activity. If this sounds like the plot of a Hollywood block buster it’s not it is real everyday life happening around the globe on a daily basis. National Geographic put a special together on this very subject and if you get the opportunity to watch it I think it would be as eye opening for you as it was for me. To think that some of the items many people need to function on a daily basis like medical drugs are being made in back rooms and shops made with any combination of chemicals to look like the real thing and then being packaged and sold is a very scary thing.

Week 5 EOC: Lawyers Looking For Fame

In today’s world many people are out for fame and fortune, included in this bunch of individuals are the lawyers who are taking cases that they think will land them some face time in front of the nine justices of the Supreme Court. Many of these new breed of lawyers are finding cases that they think will give them the chance of a lifetime. Some might ask why it is a bad thing to want to present a case in front of the Supreme Court. To that I would say it isn’t a bad thing if done for the right reasons. However this was a statement in a New York Times article on this subject “There’s one and only one reason they’re interested,” Barry A. Schwartz, a criminal defense lawyer in Denver, said of many of the dozen or so lawyers who called him after he had won an appeals court decision on an issue that was likely to reach the Supreme Court. “It’s not because they love your client or believe in the legal principle your case presents. They want to get the case into the Supreme Court.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/us/10lawyers.html?_r=1)
Barry may be on to something with more and more lawyers wanting to try cases in the Supreme Court hoping to bring in bigger clients to their firms. In fact, in another article I found relating to this subject “David Mills, 33, was on the partner track at Jones Day but decided to set up a solo practice focused on federal appeals cases. Only two years into operating The Mills Law Office, he's about to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.” (http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/10/young_cleveland_lawyer_to_argu.html) Looking over the article you can make your own opinions as to whether David took on the case for the right or wrong reasons. You have to wonder though was it because he believed in her case or was it because he believed that her case could get him in front of the Supreme Court justices to argue on her behalf? Which in the end it did just that.
At the Stanford law school one can partake in a clinic designed for the purpose of getting one’s self ready to be one of these so called elite lawyers. “Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic—the first of its kind at any law school—gives students the opportunity to explore a realm few lawyers experience in their careers: the Supreme Court of the United State.” (http://www.law.stanford.edu/program/clinics/supremecourtlitigation/) This just goes to show you where the practice of law may be headed if you and a student looking for fortune and fame. I do not think that all those who want to argue before the supreme court do it solely for the purpose of money of fame, but after looking through a few articles it seems that there are a few that want to do it for that sole purpose whether they admit to it or not.

Week 4 EOC: Death Race Jeopardy

So what is Death Race Jeopardy? Death Race Jeopardy was a game we played in class tonight using the jeopardy games we created last week. We broke into team and played three different stages of the game. Each stage of the game we switched teams around and made smaller groups each time. The final game was the death race match in which we all got to gamble on the final outcome before the game started, the ending result was that we all got bonus points to put towards our midterm grades. Having studied before hand and then with the game I feel better prepared for the midterm, even if the competitiveness of the game withdrew some of the study reinforcement, At least for me that is. I think overall this game benefited those who did not complete the assignment and didn’t previously study as well. Some of the terms used in people games were things like misuse of patent, teach the invention, and world intellectual property organization. I enjoy when teacher use different or unconventional ways to teach student things that otherwise would bore you out of your mind. I mean there are literally 120 plus pages of definitions in the chapter we are studying for the midterm. So having to spend the time to read through the terms to find ones we wanted to use in our games was a great and fun way to learn many of the definitions and to learn a few new things about patents.

Week 3 EOC: Jeopordy - challenges and opportunities

This week’s assignment is to build our own version of the game jeopardy or at least design the questions for the game using the 120 pages of definitions from the book. This is a way for us to not only learn the definitions but teach others definitions’ as well. In some ways this will be a good teaching method for those who are able to read and retain what they learn, it will also benefit those who are visual learners. In other classes where I’ve seen this type of thing used most people did benefit from it but in my opinion you learn very little long term outside the terms or definitions you research on your own. On the other hand it is a great way to involve everyone and try and get everyone to study the definitions in the book, most people would not study these definitions the way they should otherwise. Besides that it turns a rather boring subject into a fun interactive way to teach and learn the subject. The hardest part of the whole process the whole game design is writing the terms that you want to use so that others can answer the questions. I started designing my categories by trying to find definitions I could reword fairly easily which are turning out to be harder than I first imagined. Some of the things you think will be the easy things to define like acronyms are not as easy to do after all, besides that looking around it looks like a few other people were thinking the same thing. Not wanting to do the same thing as anyone else, which will probably be nearly impossible in a class this size, I’m off to greater learning and defining as I create my masterpiece.