Richard Oliver

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Posts by Richard Oliver

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  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Sgeperdless. Please tell me specifically what u feel I have said that is incorrect and I will back it up with case law. And the case law I have spouted by any objective reader would see it is on point.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Sparky. In your question, no watchtower would not have any recourse, in my lay opinion. Watchtower only copyright the actual videos that they produce. Unless watchtower entered into negotiations with the producers of the Simpsons for some compensation for their character development they would not be breaking any portion of section 102 or 103 of the US copyright act. The preemption doctorine of section 106(a) of the copyright act bars them from filing a civil action in a state court.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Sgeperdless. You use the character of Mickey mouse as your example. Again there has to be some novel or unique idea for it to be copyrightable. If you say that the watchtower can claim Caleb as a trademark, the reference sparky posted talks about recognizable by the general public. I don't think anyone on this site could make the argument that Caleb can be recognized by the general public.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Dora the explorer can be claimed as unique and novel. A character who has a talking monkey as a friend who goes out on adventures of exploration. Again, I never said a character cannot fall under the copyright act, but there has to be some unique, original or novel. In Wrench v Taco Bell the court ruled that the benefit to a person or corporation does not, raise a character or idea to a novel, original or unique idea.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Cedars from jwsurvey complains he got notice from YouTube and other hosting sites of the take down of a video he produced mocking the Caleb and Sofia videos. Again sparky using your own reference, the part that was copyrighted was the video, not the characters, he used the actual video from Watchtower. The video itself is what has the copyright and that is why it was taken down.

  You also reference you have to be a real lawyer to understand these issues. First, the bar association and rules from state supreme court bars anyone who is not a lawyer from giving legal advice, not to comprehend what the law is. Second, courts tend to write opinions in a way for lay people to read and comprehend their discussions and decisions. It is a cornerstone of Western judicial principal for anyone to understand the law to atleast a reasonable degree.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  I said that Caleb and Sofia are not copyrightable. I never said that all characters aren't. There has to be some novel or originality for a character to be copyrightable. I am using your own references. I understand you want to spin everything one way or the other. But atleast 4 circuit court of appeals has issued decisions on this subject, and keep highlighting the novel and originality needed. Ironman is unique and original, but a character who is 5-10 years old who is male and has brown hair and brown eyes is really hard to claim it is unique.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  This protection extends to any copyrightable pictorial or written expression contained in the work.

  The reference you provided from copyright.gov says a copyrightable pictorial. I never said items or characters aren't copyrightable, but there has to be with some degree of it being novel or original for it to be copyrightable.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Sparky. The reference you use actually highlights my points. The reference talks about trademark, which you have stated you are not claiming, the character has to be identifiable to the general public. The section on copyright highlights that there has to be some originality in the character. A stock character is not copyrightable, it also highlights that the character is copyrightable in the context of the work. Under your idea, man who wears a hat and a mustache is copyrightable because charlie Chaplin wore a hat and mustache in movies. But that is a stock character look, but if there was a character who wears a hat and mustache and did unique things to him, that is copyrightable.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Sparky. Again the videos are copyrightable, not the characters themselves. And I know for sure that the branch will send out cease and desist demands for copyrightable items, including pictures. Again people on here want the law to be black and white. It is not black and white.
• 
  58

  watchtower lapel pins

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been noticing lots of these pins on lapels.

  i could almost understand the jwdotorg pin because the new mantra is to go to the website.

  but why on earth are they sporting a building?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Richard Oliver

  Orphancrow. The creators of the taco Bell dog got the money because of a violation of state contract law not federal copyright law. Literally the only reason they got it was not the reproduction of the material but because of the addition of an element, that of the expectation of receiving payment for their product.