West Study Aids: Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is one of the most popular upper level courses here at CSL.  Our subscription to West Study Aids can definitely provide you access to a wide variety of study aids for various IP areas:

• Copyright
• International
• Licensing
• Patent Law
• Survey Law
• Trademarks

Nutshells:

• LaFrance’s Copyright Law in a Nutshell
• McManis’ Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition in a Nutshell
• Miller and Davis’ Intellectual Property, Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright in a Nutshell
• LaFrance’s Copyright Law in a Nutshell
• Adelman, Rader, and Klancnik’s Patent Law in a Nutshell

Black Letter Outline:

• Schechter’s Black Letter Outline on Intellectual Property

You can access West Study Aids by going to http://lawschool.westlaw.com and logging in to your Westlaw account.  Under “Legal Research and Tools” select “Study”.  From there you can search by keyword, subject, material type or series and you can browse all subject areas with one click.  You can also check out newly added study aids and create your own Favorites list.

~ Julie Morris ~

Legal Symbols

When you think of legal symbols, you might initially think of the scales of justice or a gavel, but the symbols I’m going to tell you about have more to do with legal writing.  In the legal profession there are several symbols that would be very helpful for you be able to use effectively.

They include:

§ Section

© Copyright

® Registered

™ Trademark

§ – The section symbol is used when referring to a certain specific area of a document or legal code (i.e. §137). To use the plural “sections,” just duplicate the section symbol (i.e. §§).  This is how you create a section symbol:

Alt + 0167 = §

© – The copyright symbol is used to show ownership of intellectual property such as artistic and literary works.  Normally the copyright symbol is placed next to the year that the particular work was copyrighted (i.e. ©2011). This is how you create a copyright symbol:

Alt + 0169 = ©

® – The registered symbol basically notates the legal registration and protection of a unique product line, brand, or company (i.e. NIKE®).  It is used in place of the trademark symbol or in combination with the trademark symbol.  It can only be used after the government grants a Federal registration certificate. This is how you create a registered symbol:

Alt + 0174 = ®

™ – The Trademark symbol also is used to protect a unique product line, brand, or company in place or in conjunction with a registration symbol.  This symbol can be used without any special permission from the government.  Trademarks put competitors on notice as to what they consider their intellectual property (i.e. Whopper™).  This is how you create a trademark symbol:

Alt + 0153 = ™

I hope these tips enable you to use these symbols more quickly & effectively.

~ Brian Trippodo ~

Hidden Treasures: The Entertainment and Sports Lawyer

Time to shine the spotlight on yet another of the many legal periodicals Charlotte Law has to offer!

Are you interested in entertainment?  Sports?  The arts?  Intellectual property laws?

The Entertainment and Sports Lawyer provides readers with current, practical information as well as public policy and scholarly viewpoints in relation to all of these topics.  Entertainment and Sports Lawyer is published quarterly by the Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries of the American Bar Association.  Our print collection for this title goes all the way back to the very first volume, and full-text electronic access is available through HeinOnline and ProQuest.

Here are some articles of special interest from the current issue:

• The New and Complex World of Television Music Licensing
• Profile: Evolution of a Company and a Legal Career: AEG and Ted Fikre’s Growth
• Survival Tactics in Contracting Times
• Update to the Commercial Value of Rights of Publicity: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words . . . or Sometimes a Million Dollars
• Phoenix Coyotes Bankruptcy Can Still Be a Model for Troubled Sports Franchises
• The Crisis of Doping in Equestrian Sport
• Alcohol-Endorsing Athletes Can Join Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man on the Bench
• Navigating the Tangled Web of Webcasting Royalties

Link to our catalog record at http://70.150.94.196/record=b410740 to see detailed holdings information and to access back issues online.  Keep an eye on our popular journals area, where the most current issue of Entertainment and Sports Lawyer is always on display.  And as always, happy reading!!!

-Ashley Moye-