Las Vegas Injury Lawyers Blog

Written By a Law Clerk for Parker Scheer Lagomarsino: Robert Maxey

The United States enjoys a high level of intellectual property law and its enforcement. We can afford some success of our country to intellectual property law, which is essential to the progress and movement of our economy. Copyrights and patents allow for people to proceed with their business without worrying about having their ideas stolen. This area of the law provides a safe haven and foundation that is necessary if society is to build itself up.

In countries that have weak intellectual property rights or enforcement, many people are discouraged to come up with new products. The logic, which is easy to follow, is "If I develop a new product or a new idea, someone can easily steal it and I will be put out of business." Weak patent laws therefore compound the problems of emerging nations, which wish to be competitive in the global economy.

Recently Orrin Lynn Tolliver was awarded $1,200,000 in a lawsuit regarding his intellectual property. Tolliver is a disc jockey and a former rap artist who had worked with a friend, James McCants, to produce a song called "I Need A Freak." After the song had been completed it was registered with BMI and Tolliver was given credit as the songwriter and was to be paid 75% of royalties. Despite this agreement, the song was released on a compilation titled "In Da Beginning...There Was Rap" which induced Tolliver to issue a cease-and desist letter. However, McCants said that he had not issued a license for the compilation. Tolliver's song was then sampled by the Black Eyed Peas on their song "My Humps." It was this act that forced Tolliver to sue McCants for copyright infringement.

During the case McCants frequently changed his story about the reasons for why he had not issued the 75% of royalties that he had promised. He tried to say he owned the song, that he didn't issue a license and finally that the song was never sampled to begin with. The judge rule in favor of Tolliver and a jury awarded him $816,877.28 for profits and $368,704.31 for copyright infringement.

It only makes sense that if you make or produce something then it should belong to you. This is the premise of intellectual property law and it hold the most true when another is profiting off of your work. Frequently people have their ideas and work stolen and as decided by a judge McCants was exactly guilty of this. It is unethical to take someone else's work and receive the benefits for yourself but fortunately within our country it is also illegal and there are legal remedies to receive what you are justly owed.

A full article can be found here: DJ wins $1 million in lawsuit over "My Humps" song

Our law firm does not represent anybody in this incident. The commentary is for educational purposes only. If you or someone you know has a business related dispute and would like to be represented by a Las Vegas Lawyer, contact our office for a free confidential case review and receive a response within hours. Call Toll Free 866-414-0400

The flow of money is never ending in our economy; it jumps switching hands from one person to the next with the only resistance coming in the form of how quickly we can spend it. However having money flow in your direction is an entirely different matter, in fact for many people it is the only matter.

To begin there are a plethora of tools businesses and people use to get money to flow in their direction and one of the most useful is marketing. If nobody knows who you are they certainly can never give you money thereby marketing holds significant value. It can turn words like Disney World into mood bombs if said around young children can turn them into craving maniacs.

We all know marketing has power and influence but it doesn't come cheap. Recently the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has gotten into a suit over violations of its "Only Vegas" logo.

The logo established itself in TV commercials portraying Las Vegas as the city of secret adult fun. The commercials often leave the viewer with more questions than answers, which may be the reason the ads have been so successful. Each mysterious scene is subsequently followed by the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas slogan" which has come to be synonymous with the city's image.

Through the efforts of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, who established the campaign, Las Vegas now has a reputation to uphold and protect. Due to the massive amounts of money used in this campaign and the publicity associated with the slogan it is clear why it must be protected. Anyone trying to use the "good name" of Vegas to promote their products could damage the brand and potentially harm our local economy. It is for these very good reasons that suit was brought against Vegas Pawn an Arizona based pawn shop.

The shop has used the same style lettering as the "Only Vegas" logo on its shirts and on its website. This has presented a very substantial problem for the LVCVA because they claim it can be easy for people to believe Las Vegas endorses this pawnshop when it in fact does not. The use of someone else's established logo is illegal and the LVCVA alleges trademark infringement and unfair competition in its suit.

This pawnshop is effectively siphoning off the marketing that has already been done for Las Vegas without approval or authorization. It has dodged putting forth any effort of its own to market itself and hopes to profit from other's work. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and LVCVA says that it attempted to resolve the matter in a non-legal manner first but was ignored. What is disappointing is that a great marketing campaign ensures a successful business future but unfortunately has the potential to be targeted for copyright infringement.

A full article can be found here: LVCVA sues Arizona pawnshop over 'Only Vegas' logo

Our law firm does not represent anybody in this incident. The commentary is for educational purposes only. If you or someone you know has been a victim of illegal activity against your business and would like to be represented by a Las Vegas Business Lawyer, contact our office for a free confidential case review and receive a response within hours. Call Toll Free 866-414-0400.