MIRSKY & COMPANY, PLLC

T EL : (202) 339-0303 (DC) (646) 374-1335 (NY) F AX : (202) 350-9480 E MAIL : ANDY @M IRSKY L EGAL . COM I NTERNET : WWW .M IRSKY L EGAL . COM

New Media Legal Breakfast #7 (Twitter: #MediaLawDC) July 31, 2012 Andrew Mirsky, Esq. (Mirsky & Company, PLLC) Legal Bootcamp for New Media/Tech Contracts: What matters when looking at contracts? ANSWER: No matter who writes the contract, (i) Description of what youre going to do, (ii) whos going to do it? And (iii) what happens if and when the contract is terminated? Trademarks: When do trademarks matter? (When useful? When not?) Infringement vs. registration What is value of registration? Employees and Contractors: Interns and freelancers/ICs: Risks and problems: Just because you dont withhold taxes/provide benefits/grant vacation, doesnt make the worker an IC Work for hire agreements: Always always always plus assignment clauses (why?) Idea Protection: Copyrights? Patents? Yes, but but but is that practical? How do you prevent people from stealing your idea? Patents: Is this something I can patent? Copyright vs. Patent: Ideas versus expression of ideas speed versus long process. Invention must be novel, useful and non-obvious Filing Mechanics: Copyrights: What does it mean to copyright software (and what kind of protection does it get you (and not get you))? Privacy: Must you have a privacy policy? Should you? Usually problem is CONTRACT, not privacy laws. Difference between privacy (disclosure and use) and data security. Fair Use: Ask whether the heart of the original work is being used, regardless of the seemingly small physical amount of the copying.

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Facts are not always clearly public domain, especially in cases where unusual creative effort (e.g. proprietary market analysis algorithms) went into their compilation.

Partnership/Corporate Issues Failure to Document Management and Ownership: Default rule is quasi-general partnership everyone has equal ownership and equal voting rights Type of entity: LLC, S corporation, C corporation, limited partnership: Why form a company at all? Terms of Services/Terms of Use: Typical provisions What MUST be covered? Ownership: Who owns content?

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