Questions tagged [intellectual-property]
For questions concerning the ownership of ideas, designs and creative work. Specific IP tags include copyright, trademark, and patents.
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What is plagiarism legally?
We all learn from books and our environment.
I was trying to teach my kids what is money so I told and wrote:
"Money is the third good that everyone wants."
The above is an idea that I read ...
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Can I screenshot a world map from Microsoft Bing and use it for Youtube videos?
I have this nice screenshot of Microsoft Bing's map, along with the copyright mark at the bottom right corner. For the OpenStreetMap they said it clearly that I must acknowledge/credit them (https://...
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Are designs explained in academic publications considered to be in public domain if there isn't yet a patent application about it?
In academic journals, sometimes the new approach they describe seems so promising that companies may want to use those designs or designs made/inspired from the principles mentioned in the publication....
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What IP law would apply to trained weights of an AI model?
In simple terms, any AI system will consist of three elements:
Code, written by humans, that defines the mathematical model
The mathematical model itself, as it exists within the computer
The model ...
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Copyright issues when journal is defunct
Consider a seminal paper published 40 years ago in a journal that went belly up 30 years ago. Many cite it but hardly anyone has seen it. Can I expect trouble if I make an electronic copy available on ...
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Is it safe to talk about ideas that I have not patented yet over public email?
I have an idea with which I may someday make a startup. I can talk about it with experienced people, over public emails for example. However, I wonder if from patent point of view this is safe. My ...
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Can patents be featured/explained in a youtube video i.e. are patent descriptions/images in public domain?
Is it legally allowed to use images, which are obtained from patent forms, possibly with modifying/coloring them or left as is, inside youtube videos? In the same vein with images how about the text i....
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When a game's EULA specifies that all user generated content is the property of the game's publisher, which party is responsible for IP infringement?
In recent years there's been an increasing trend of games companies claiming exclusive rights to all user generated content for the game and that the user/modder forfiets all rights of authorship over ...
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Is your child's name subject to copyright/trademark law?
If I name my son "Nintendo", and my son goes on to make headlines doing bad things, I can imagine the company named "Nintendo" wouldn't be too happy. Similarly if I named my kid &...
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Do investors have any copyrights on the application they invest on?
Considering I am the founder of Instagram, it means I have written 100% of the application code by myself, then found an investor and they put some money into the startup and got 30% of the new ...
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Claiming a copycat version of a well-known, out of print board game is similar to the original
Under intellectual property law, is it permissible to create a version of an out-of-print board game that is protected by copyright, but not by patent, by changing its design elements (cards, game ...
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Can a company own intellectual property created off the clock?
In an employment agreement, can a company claim intellectual property created off the clock unrelated to your their core business?
Specifically if their core business is in a narrow domain of software,...
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Can a contract clause really stop me from developing something in my own time [duplicate]
My contract states the below:
I assume this means, even things i make in my personal time would belong to the company?
I wonder how enforceable that really is as that would suggest that they would be ...
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Are objects such as Rubiks Cube and Smiley faces really forbidden for use?
I am a designer and a part time web developer. I recently designed a web UI for a pet project of mine and before going public consulted my legal advisor. To my surprise, my advisor recommended that I ...
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Non-commercial Tabletop RPGs using the Games Workship IP guidelines?
It was suggested I post here instead of RPG stackoverflow :)
I’m trying to figure out to what extent fan Tabletop RPGs set in the 40k universe are allowed, clearly anything commercial is off the table ...
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Must Apple facilitate transfer of app purchases from one user account to another?
A recent question addresses EU law allowing the resale of software licenses. I asked on that answer, “ Does this mean that you could transfer one-time or subscription purchases of apps from mobile app ...
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What is the definition of "substantial portions of Software" that is used in MIT License?
Text of MIT License is as follows:
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal ...
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Under what conditions are 3rd party works automatically subject to the OGL 1.0a?
Are 3rd party creations that are "compatible with" D&D automatically subject to the OGL (OGL 1.0a for the purposes of all references in this question), or can they be published without ...
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Creative commons license on sheet music of classical pieces and performing in public
Suppose that there is a piece of classical music (let's say written by Bach in 1726) and there is a recent arrangement (sheet music) of that piece which was made available through Creative Commons ...
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How to make sure your startup or project idea is not stolen or given away when sharing it with professors or sources of support [duplicate]
Say you have an idea for which you can appreciate some intellectual and financial support. For this you may reach out to different sources, such as university professors or research institutes that ...
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Are maps from the Massachusetts State Transportation Library in the public domain?
MBTA is the transit agency for Greater Boston, Massachussetts, USA.
The website for the Massachusetts State Transportation Library contains many old MBTA maps and other transit-related items. A user ...
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Do I have any legal options if a game is released with the same name as one I already publicly have under development?
I have had a game in development since October 2020. There is an audit trail in the form of public GitHub code commits showing how long I have been using the name. Unfortunately I had not yet done any ...
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It is illegal to name software releases after pop-culture things?
An example: version 2.0 of a software is named "Thresh", version 2.1 is named "Cassiopeia", and so on? (taking names from a single source)
user48480
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In the U.S., what happens to intellectual property that has escheated to a state government?
A recent answer to a question here about the legality of publishing a work for which the copyright owner cannot be found mentions
If the owner has no legal heirs, in most jurisdictions the property ...
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Why is a cover song not fair use? (But parody songs are?)
Considering fair use law, parody, transformative works: Weird Al always asks for permission for his parodies but many law professionals have stated he would not have to.
Considering all this, why does ...
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How to determine which national copyright legislation applies if I put someone else's work online? [duplicate]
Suppose there is a work by author A, whose copyright expires tomorrow (i.e. it goes into public domain) in their country of birth C1. I upload it (tomorrow) online on a blogging site by a company E ...
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Can Pepsi use Coke's logo to advertise its own product on its website?
Can Pepsi display Coke's logo on it's website for comparison sake? For example, tastes just like coke - with the coke logo next to it? I'm assuming this is permitted due to the fair / nominative use ...
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Copyright rules are restricted [closed]
Are Copyright rules enforced by the authorities currently only to written documents? Are there any regulations on "mind reading" and producing documents elsewhere? How correctly and usefully ...
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Can I Create and Sell Another Virtual Machine Software for macOS?
I would like to know if I can legally create and sell a software that creates, opens, manages, and runs virtual machines for macOS.
I know that there are a lot of virtual machine software out there ...
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Is one free from legal responsibility if the intellectual property has passed the plagiarism check software?
A few examples:
Bob wrote a blog post and uses a plagiarism checker. The checker didn’t find any plagiarism. Does that protect Bob from copyright infringement claims?
Bob uses AI to generate a blog ...
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Why are app mods often illegal, but Chrome extensions are seemingly not?
It seems that app mods, such as for games, are generally considered to be derivative works and thus illegal. Chrome extensions, though, don't have the same reputation, even for the well-known ...
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Can game developers legally revoke the license of use of game assets?
Large video game companies such as Blizzard, Valve, Mojang, etc. usually include a notice on their terms of use for video game assets for non-profit use, claiming that the license can be revoked at ...
user48179
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Can an operating system/desktop environment include a fictional map from a 3rd party IP?
Can an Operating System / Desktop Environment (e.g. for Linux systems) include a fictional map? E.g. can a DE for Linux systems include the map of Azeroth (from Warcraft) and all of its locations on ...
user48179
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Why are ideas not protected by copyright?
Under most (or possibly all) cases ideas are not protected by copyright (or some other IP). Is there a reason for this? It is because it doesn't make sense to protect ideas with copyright?
user48179
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What are the rules for intellectual property in science fiction?
Okay so I am writing something that is like a chronicle of science, culture and technological progression in a popular sci-fi franchise. I don't expect my work to be published for many years. Right ...
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Using a recipe in a YouTube video [duplicate]
What is the legality in using a recipe in a YouTube video? Should I cite the cookbook I got it from (I would do it either way)? And should I get the author's permission to use it? What else should I ...
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Who owns the IP for some software that I created in my spare time? Employee or Employer?
I am employed as a designer in the UK by a UK employer. I do not work for a software company.
On my own machine on weekends I created my own software that I believe my employer would benefit from.
I ...
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Are random generators that use the names of fictional characters not infringing?
For example, if I create a random generator that uses the names of the characters from a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) video game plus a random string attached after the character name, and ...
user48067
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Does the lack of copyright on facts mean that it is legal to reimplement a simple name generator?
There is a website (fantasynamegenerators.com) that allows the user to generate names, ranging from pop culture to real names and including place names.
According to the court case Feist v. Rural a ...
user48067
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When does a retail flight simulator, or racing game, need to license aircraft or vehicles from their manufacturers?
Supposing someone (whether an individual, small company like an indie game studio, or large game publisher with an established legal department (EA, Microsoft, etc)) wants to make a flight simulator ...
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Is it legal for someone to publish a conversation from the Youtube comments section? What if they were one of the commenters?
If there was a situation where a journalist wanted to publish a back and forth conversation between two commenters that occurred in the Youtube comments section of a video by quoting the entire ...
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Can typefaces belong to an IP?
Under most countries typefaces are not protected by copyright, only computer fonts. But are typefaces protected by other types of IP (trademark, patent, etc.)?
user47165
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What are the legal issues when using copyrighted images to advertise a product that doesn't contain them?
I was on YouTube a couple of days ago watching a video that looked at mobile game advertisements and whether or not they were reflective of the product.
To give an example, one game used online ads of ...
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Can the names of the characters from a work be used for another purpose? [duplicate]
Consider that a web-based software (such as a forum software) includes a feature to generate random usernames during user account registration. If these random names are the names of the characters ...
user47165
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Legality of Aggregating and Publishing Data from Academic Journals
I am an academic in a field where we explore the performance of materials for a particular application based on just a few metrics. Right now, there is no central repository of this information. My ...
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Do these two Microsoft Excel patents prevent anyone from shipping similar features?
Considering these two patents describing two features:
User defined spreadsheet functions
Customizable spreadsheet table styles
If anyone were to build some spreadsheet software, what would these ...
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When is work for a client "connected to" work for a different client?
In a consulting or contracting business, when is ownership of intellectual property work done for client A separated from work done for Clients B & C?
The contract agreements are usually crisp and ...
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Selling a product using a hardware with replaced software
I bought an unbranded China-made Wi-fi router and I replaced the built-in firmware/software with another firmware/software and make it as a portable computer with my own software installed in it. In ...
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Law behind copying items multiple times
Hypothetical scenario: Mr. Peter creates a piece of know-how, e.g. a unique pizza recipe.
Can he sell the recipe to more than one company?
What is called a type of contract that enables multiple ...
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I just got a facebook trademark infringement notice by email from Meta [closed]
I am the owner of https://*******onfacebook.com . Its a free tool to find mutual friends between two or more people.
I made a facebook account to promote this website on many FB groups about mutual ...
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