TOPICS:
OCT 01, 2010 01:13 AM
talamia said:
Some good advice a lawyer familiar with intellectual property gave was that anything of great importance to a photographer should be disked, placed in an envelope and posted back to oneself thereby having an official post office date stamp. Of course you should then keep it, sealed.
Not sure if that works in South Africa but that actually doesn't hold any legal merit in the United States.
That was another common misunderstanding addressed by Ed Greenberg in the video link. It's referred to as a "poor man's copyright" and is completely worthless in court.
And I remember being told to do that back when I was in a band in the 90s! Good to know that the urban legend is alive and well and has migrated to photography (and South Africa). 
OCT 01, 2010 06:42 AM
Gringo said:
talamia said:
Some good advice a lawyer familiar with intellectual property gave was that anything of great importance to a photographer should be disked, placed in an envelope and posted back to oneself thereby having an official post office date stamp. Of course you should then keep it, sealed.
Not sure if that works in South Africa but that actually doesn't hold any legal merit in the United States.
That was another common misunderstanding addressed by Ed Greenberg in the video link. It's referred to as a "poor man's copyright" and is completely worthless in court.
And I remember being told to do that back when I was in a band in the 90s! Good to know that the urban legend is alive and well and has migrated to photography (and South Africa).
Oh. fuck. Well good to know, thanks Gringo. Damn it. It was advice given to us in a "copyright" class by a guest speaker in my final (fourth) year of studies a couple years ago. And even though I've never ever considered bothering with something like that I always thought it held true. Maybe it still applies here in SA but just not in the States? 
*shrug*
OCT 10, 2010 11:09 PM
talamia said:
Gringo said:
talamia said:
Some good advice a lawyer familiar with intellectual property gave was that anything of great importance to a photographer should be disked, placed in an envelope and posted back to oneself thereby having an official post office date stamp. Of course you should then keep it, sealed.
Not sure if that works in South Africa but that actually doesn't hold any legal merit in the United States.
That was another common misunderstanding addressed by Ed Greenberg in the video link. It's referred to as a "poor man's copyright" and is completely worthless in court.
And I remember being told to do that back when I was in a band in the 90s! Good to know that the urban legend is alive and well and has migrated to photography (and South Africa).
Oh. fuck. Well good to know, thanks Gringo. Damn it. It was advice given to us in a "copyright" class by a guest speaker in my final (fourth) year of studies a couple years ago. And even though I've never ever considered bothering with something like that I always thought it held true. Maybe it still applies here in SA but just not in the States? *shrug*
It doesn't hold up in court because the U.S. mail does not check (or even care) if your envelope is sealed shut, so you could easily mail yourself lots of empty envelopes and simply not seal them and then just put whatever you want in it later and seal it.
OCT 11, 2010 02:17 AM
ninadelamorte said:
talamia said:
Gringo said:
talamia said:
Some good advice a lawyer familiar with intellectual property gave was that anything of great importance to a photographer should be disked, placed in an envelope and posted back to oneself thereby having an official post office date stamp. Of course you should then keep it, sealed.
Not sure if that works in South Africa but that actually doesn't hold any legal merit in the United States.
That was another common misunderstanding addressed by Ed Greenberg in the video link. It's referred to as a "poor man's copyright" and is completely worthless in court.
And I remember being told to do that back when I was in a band in the 90s! Good to know that the urban legend is alive and well and has migrated to photography (and South Africa).
Oh. fuck. Well good to know, thanks Gringo. Damn it. It was advice given to us in a "copyright" class by a guest speaker in my final (fourth) year of studies a couple years ago. And even though I've never ever considered bothering with something like that I always thought it held true. Maybe it still applies here in SA but just not in the States? *shrug*
It doesn't hold up in court because the U.S. mail does not check (or even care) if your envelope is sealed shut, so you could easily mail yourself lots of empty envelopes and simply not seal them and then just put whatever you want in it later and seal it.
But I've wondered if we could do a modern version of this by emailing it all to yourself. Couldn't you show in court how long ago the email was sent and what files were attached to it? especially if it's a reputable service like gmail or the like?
OCT 11, 2010 10:07 AM
Maxx said:
ninadelamorte said:
talamia said:
Gringo said:
talamia said:
Some good advice a lawyer familiar with intellectual property gave was that anything of great importance to a photographer should be disked, placed in an envelope and posted back to oneself thereby having an official post office date stamp. Of course you should then keep it, sealed.
Not sure if that works in South Africa but that actually doesn't hold any legal merit in the United States.
That was another common misunderstanding addressed by Ed Greenberg in the video link. It's referred to as a "poor man's copyright" and is completely worthless in court.
And I remember being told to do that back when I was in a band in the 90s! Good to know that the urban legend is alive and well and has migrated to photography (and South Africa).
Oh. fuck. Well good to know, thanks Gringo. Damn it. It was advice given to us in a "copyright" class by a guest speaker in my final (fourth) year of studies a couple years ago. And even though I've never ever considered bothering with something like that I always thought it held true. Maybe it still applies here in SA but just not in the States? *shrug*
It doesn't hold up in court because the U.S. mail does not check (or even care) if your envelope is sealed shut, so you could easily mail yourself lots of empty envelopes and simply not seal them and then just put whatever you want in it later and seal it.
But I've wondered if we could do a modern version of this by emailing it all to yourself. Couldn't you show in court how long ago the email was sent and what files were attached to it? especially if it's a reputable service like gmail or the like?
I'm new to law school, (and this isn't my area of focus) but I recently had a class in which the teacher was saying that the "internet" is new to the legal forum and many courts are still working out how things like subject matter jurisdiction, evidence, ect. work in the digital world as opposed to physical mail, ect. But, generally courts seem to lean toward viewing the two in the same light: snail mail and email would be equal in the majority of jurisdictions.
Moreover, in many of the criminal cases I've worked on we've used email, full copies of hard drives, cell phone records...all kinds of intangible indicia as valid circumstantial evidence.
However, in copyright cases snail mail (even registered mail) is not a valid basis for proof ownership. So, I would think you can't use email either...but, I could be wrong.
You can use non-repudiation services (and there are several online...even free ones) that could hold up (depending on the court). They're basically the equivalent of an online notary.
Thistle
SUICIDEGIRL
California, USA
OCT 01, 2010 01:01 AM