The Great Jewelry Design Ripoff

The Great Jewelry Design Ripoff

Jewelry design has become a popular entrepreneurial endeavor for artisans who have found a customer base hungry to display a love of creativity. Ironically, American law often seems to find many forms of jewelry design not particularly creative enough, as evidenced by a restrictive approach by the U.S. Copyright Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as federal courts. 

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Etsy Liars, Instagram Thieves, and the Art of Law

Etsy Liars, Instagram Thieves, and the Art of Law

When I was a kid, I was proud of my illustration skills. In the days before Photoshop, I believed art was verisimilitude. Then I went to art school, met painters and sculptors with far more talent than I, and discovered the importance of ideas in art. It would be many years before I would realize that voice and "personal brand"--as obnoxious a term as we've coined in this 21st century--matter as much in the world of artists as ideas and talent. 

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Dr. Startup, or: How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the Micropayment

Dr. Startup, or: How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love the Micropayment

Did the Internet and technology level the playing field for small-time artists, illustrators, musicians, or filmmakers? On the one hand, it is easier than ever before to become a web celebrity than ever before, and for the creator of creative content to monetize that content.

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Can Infringement on Etsy, CafePress, or Ebay be Considered "Fair Use?"

Sure, you know that someone registered the trademark to that logo you mock on those t-shirts you sell on CafePress. Or you've crafted a functional sculpture from food packaging that sells like hotcakes on ebay. Maybe you've printed a few lines from a famous song onto a mug and gave it the tag "Beyonce" in your Etsy store. But you can do it, right? It's fair use, right?

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