Just When is Fair Use Truly Fair?

By Heather Faucher | Posted on September 18, 2009 | Filed Under Copyrights 

Copyright infringement refers to the unauthorized or unlicensed copying of a copyrighted work.  Copyright law exists to provide protection to authors, artists, and developers or other copyright holders so they can make their livings off of their copyrighted work without fear that others will steal or copy their work for their own commercial or inappropriate use.  One potential defense for those accused of copyright infringement is that of “fair use.”  The fair use doctrine came into existence due to a succession of court decisions over the years that was later codified into U.S. law in Section 107 of the Copyright Law.

Sometimes it’s difficult to define just what constitutes fair use according to this law.  Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that fair use can be best described as a murky land with invisible and hard-to-define boundaries.  Especially with the ever-increasing expansion of cyberspace.  So how can you tell just when fair use is, in fact, fair?  Well, the best method is, of course, to hire an experienced copyright attorney to go over the facts of your case.  Barring that, though, you can consider the following four factor fair use analysis and how the factors apply to your specific situation.

Read more

Bankruptcy Basics

By Heather Faucher | Posted on September 16, 2009 | Filed Under Bankruptcy 

Bankruptcy was created to benefit both debtors (consumers or businesses who owe money to others) and their creditors (a person or business who is owed money) by making sure that debtors get relief from debts that they truly can’t afford to pay, as well as ensuring that creditors get paid from any assets that the creditor doesn’t need to live on. In 2005, the U.S. Bankruptcy Code was modified to make it more difficult for debtors who can afford to pay off at least some of their debts to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which forgives most if not all of a consumer’s debt. Instead, most of these debtors are required to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, under which they re-pay most or all of their debts under a 3 to 5 year payment plan.

So, how do you know whether you’ll need to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13? Read more

Sorry, No Tweet For You!!!

By Heather Faucher | Posted on September 10, 2009 | Filed Under Trademarks 

So social networking and micro-blogging phenomenon Twitter recently tried to trademark the word “tweet,” the term that many who Twitter use to describe their short, 140-character posts. According to a blog post at the Twitter website, the company decided to apply for the trademark because “it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective”. An interesting claim, since it seems pretty well-established that Twitter users were actually the first to coin the term, rather than the company itself.

I use the term “tried” because the USPTO has preliminarily denied the trademark application. I guess that Internet-using bird-lovers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief now! The USPTO remarked in its rejection that: “marks in prior-filed pending applications may present a bar to registration of applicant’s mark. [...] If the marks in the referenced applications register, applicant’s mark may be refused registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d) because of a likelihood of confusion between the two marks” and went on to reference not one, not two, but three separate trademark applications: Read more

Gosselin Claws Come Out…

By Heather Faucher | Posted on September 9, 2009 | Filed Under Divorce 

Wow, things are really getting heated between Jon and Kate Gosselin post-divorce. Jon has finally started speaking out publicly about his failed relationship and why he felt he had to get away from his wife–and her alleged abuse. “I was verbally abused. I was beaten down,” the 32-year-old ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8′ dad said on Good Morning America.

“She separated me from my family. She used to hold the kids over my head and say, ‘Don’t spend time with your mom, spend time with your kids.’ Why can’t I spend time with my mom and kids together?” he said. “Our relationship will never be fixed. I think down the road we might be friends, but at this point in time I don’t think so,” he said.

“It’s just like the change from America’s favorite dad to dirt-bag. Tomorrow I could be maybe… America’s favorite dad again. It could be after this interview. I don’t know. Whatever they want to write, let them write it. They’re going to write it anyway. I’ve learned that lesson,” he added. Read more

We’ve Come a Long Way Baby!

By Heather Faucher | Posted on September 1, 2009 | Filed Under Name Change 

We’ve come a long way since the days when society raised its collective eyebrows whenever women chose to keep their own last names after marriage. Nowadays, women who wish to hold on to the surnames they’ve had since birth don’t suffer nearly the stigma they did in the 1970’s and 1980’s. One might suppose, then, that the percentage of women declining to take their husband’s surnames has skyrocketed in the intervening years…Right?

But studies show that the vast majority of women are still choosing to take their husbands’ surnames after marriage, either completely or in part. Some choose to keep their maiden names as a middle name and tack on their husband’s name at the end. Others decide to drop their maiden names entirely, seeing it as a symbolic statement that they are declaring independence and setting out on the adventure of creating their own families.

One popular wedding website, theknot.com, ran a survey of 18,000 married couples in 2008. Rebecca Dolgin, Executive Editor, stated that 88 percent of women reported changing their names upon marriage. “I think that there was a point in time where women felt very strongly that they had to [keep their names] to assert their feminist leanings or to say that women are equal to men,” Dolgin said. “Now, women are a little more comfortable and it’s not as threatening to them.”

Family is a major motivation for many women to change their names after marriage. They often choose to make that change so that all members of their new family–including future children–share the cohesive bond of the same surname.

Prudence Moylan, who serves as the graduate program director for women’s studies and gender studies at Loyola University, points out that while it’s no longer a shock when women choose to keep their last names after marriage, the movement has lost a lot of its steam lately. She views modern brides’ decisions to take on their husbands’ names as indicative that they are choosing to keep with tradition, or, at the very least, that women are now acknowledging that making a stand over name change is perhaps not the best way to fight for equality.

Katie Kozak–now Katie Smith–perhaps puts this sentiment best: “I think we still have our independence, but we hold family values a lot higher than we used to,” said Smith, 30, of Aurora, Illinois. “I’m still a Kozak under it all.”

And thanks to those women who fought to establish a sense of feminine independence, we have indeed come a long way, baby!

Are you getting married soon and debating whether or not to change your name? Maybe you’ve decided to change your name. Find the information you’re looking for regarding a legal name change here!

keep looking »

• Search for:

• AFFILIATE STATUS DISCLOSURE:

  You should assume that the owner of this website is an affiliate for providers of goods and services mentioned on this website and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. To learn more, click here.

• Recent Posts

  • Just When is Fair Use Truly Fair?
  • Bankruptcy Basics
  • Sorry, No Tweet For You!!!
  • Gosselin Claws Come Out…
  • We’ve Come a Long Way Baby!
  • Tell Me No More Lies…Or Else!
  • First-Time Homebuyers Q&A: Part 6..
  • Back to School Basics: When Are Student Loans Dischargeable Through Bankruptcy?
  • Prenuptial Contracts Gaining Traction Worldwide…
  • There May Be Hope for the Real Estate Market Yet!

• Other Resources