Should delswife get a copyright.....

[SeaShelley]

for Love ya, Mean it?? I know NOTHING about copyright law and am posting this as more of a joke, but I did think that maybe if she got a copyright for LY, MI she could help fund the crew's next Disney trip. Wouldn't someone have to pay delswife to use the phrase if it were copyrighted??

I was on the resort board and saw a thread about a Swan/Dolphin Sorority mug with that printed on it. The DIS store could carry a bunch of LY, MI merchandise; t-shirts, pill boxes (for your Xanax), the ideas are endless.

Wobin, perhaps you should seek legal counsel?!?!

 

[cslittle999]

To protect a slogan like LY, MI Del would have to get a trademark which she can't because there is prior use. Remember that Del first heard it from Uncle Dave at the 50's Prime Time.

If Del could come up with a stylized graphic of LY, MI then she could have trademarked and people would have to pay to use it.

 

[ennisb]

I was watching TV this past weekend and I heard a character in a movie say that now famous phrase. It's driving me crazy bacause I can not remeber it.. It will come to me....I hope

 

[marymrg]

I did a google search on the phrase "love ya mean it" (use the quotes) and if the dates are right, it's been around at least since 1999. It could be older than that.........but I only looked at the first page. It probably was made popular in some movie or tv program. I had never heard it, but then again, I'm not on the cutting edge of "cool speak" either.

 

[michaeln]

I think she should turn her story into a book and get it published. Then made into a movie.

That should pay for her next few hundred tripts to WDW. Which ofcoarse would make for more vacation books etc.

 

[Tesabat]

Love ya - Mean it -

Isn't that a Big Show tag line from the radio?? I think they even put out a couple CD's under that name.

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

I'm not sure that she can't copyright it just because she heard it before from Uncle Dave. For a definitive answer she should talk to a patent/trademark attorney. She can and probably should copyright her trip reports based on the response they've gotten from all of us, especially since she's thinking about publishing them. Delswife, if you have any specific questions I can forward them to my other half. He's a federal patent/trademark atty for the US Patent and Trademark Office in DC.

 

[michaeln]

Technically by law when you write something down it is copyrighted and you own it as the author. You can pay the copyright office to put your copyright on file for you. This helps keep someone else from stealing it from you by making the claim they wrote it first which makes it difficult for both parties to prove with the following exception.

If you don't have the money to pay the copyright office there is what many call the cheap mans copyright which helps prove you are the one who owns the copyright. You write your words down in a letter or booklet. Put it in an envelope or package and send it to yourself via US mail. DO NOT EVER OPEN IT. This way if someone does try to say it was their words first you have something from a federal office with a date on it which is valid in court. The mark the post office puts over the stamp.

It is, however, still better to register your work with the copyright office. However, you do not need to do so to put the (c) year Your name on the work.


(c) 2003 Michael

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

Originally posted by michaeln
If you don't have the money to pay the copyright office there is what many call the cheap mans copyright which helps prove you are the one who owns the copyright. You write your words down in a letter or booklet. Put it in an envelope or package and send it to yourself via US mail. DO NOT EVER OPEN IT. This way if someone does try to say it was their words first you have something from a federal office with a date on it which is valid in court. The mark the post office puts over the stamp.

Absolutely true, however there are a couple of things to keep in mind here. This method isn't foolproof and there's no guarantee you'll win a challenge in a court of law.

1) You need to record what's in the envelope (especially if you use this method frequently). It doesn't do you any good to send yourself an envelope if you can't remember what's in the damn thing 6 months later.

2) The envelope still needs to be opened in the event you have to defend your copyright. If the text is something you intend to publish I wouldn't go with this method. I would just go ahead and get the copyright. I don't know what research goes into copyrighting a piece but with trademarks it's pretty grueling. They don't just hand those over with a rubberstamp and a 'Love ya, mean it'.

 

[michaeln]

Originally posted by I <3 Eeyore
Absolutely true, however there are a couple of things to keep in mind here. This method isn't foolproof and there's no guarantee you'll win a challenge in a court of law.

1) You need to record what's in the envelope (especially if you use this method frequently). It doesn't do you any good to send yourself an envelope if you can't remember what's in the damn thing 6 months later.

2) The envelope still needs to be opened in the event you have to defend your copyright. If the text is something you intend to publish I wouldn't go with this method. I would just go ahead and get the copyright. I don't know what research goes into copyrighting a piece but with trademarks it's pretty grueling. They don't just hand those over with a rubberstamp and a 'Love ya, mean it'.

Both very valid points I suppose I should have explained better. The reason I said you don't open the package is so that the judge can. If it is already opened when the judge sees it then it doesn't count.

They don't always just hand over copyrights either. You have to wait and wait for them. What they do with them in the meantime I have no idea.

My mother wrote a bunch of poems she wants to get published so she was going to have them copyrighted. This was 8 months ago. Last time she called they said they are working on it.

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

I'm sorry to hear that - that's gotta stink for your mom. Like I said, I'm not as familiar with the copyrighting process as I am with trademarks and patents. I know in both those cases there's a great deal of research that goes into determining whether or not the mark or idea is original. Either way, I'm sure it's frustrating to wait 8 months for an answer.

 

[michaeln]

No, she isn't happy about it. She thinks they lost her work and don't want to admit it.