EOC Week 10: Lawyer Jokes

Question: Do you know how to save five drowning lawyers?
Answer: No.
Reply: Good!
Question: Why don't snakes bite attorneys?
Answer: Professional courtesy.
Question: Why do male attorneys usually wear tight shirt collars and ties?
Answer: It keeps their foreskins from creeping up and covering their faces.
Question: How can you tell that an attorney is about to lie?
Answer: His lips begin to move.
Question: How can you tell the difference between an attorney lying dead in the road and a coyote lying dead in the road?
Answer: With the coyote, you usually see skid marks.
Question: How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: How many can you afford?
Question: What do you get if you send the Godfather to law school?
Answer: An offer you can't understand.

EOC Week 9: Letters of Permission

In class we discussed letters of permission.  Which means anything that has a copyright to its domain or any type of patent protection must be asked for permission by the owner before exploiting it to the public. For example say you want to film a short film and during the film you'll have music playing.  If the music in the back is playing a popular song you must contact the artist and ask the artist if its ok to play his or her music in the background of this film.  Another example could be receiving permission from a famous photographer.  Say you want to use a well known picture that was captured by a famous photographer  If you plan on featuring that picture on your website without the artist permission you can be sued.  I chose these four letters because in someway they are relevant to my field.  Sometimes during styling shoots we need to write off a contract agreeing that the model and the photographer both own rights to the picture.  Its also important in fashion because you could possibly be featuring other designers work in your blog site without them wanting their work to be displayed or perhaps you decide to film a 2 minute styling video and you use other brands to recieve recognition.  Without the permission of the owner you are at risk of copyright infringment and can potentially be sued.  Always make sure to right a letter!
http://www.ametsoc.org/pubs/copyrightinfo/ams_model_permission_letter.pdf

http://webdesignlaw.com/contracts/letter-of-agreement

http://mgitaristannes.blogspot.com/2011/12/filming-permission-letter.html

http://ebookbrowse.com/sample-permission-letter-for-film-shooting-pdf-d82685846

EOC Week 8: Bratz vs. Mattel

"In yet another twist in the epic Barbie-vs.-Bratz brawl, a U.S. District Court slapped Mattel Inc. with $88 million in damages after tossing out its claims that rival MGA Entertainment stole the idea for its blockbuster Bratz dolls, an embarrassment for the blond teen queen, to say the least."

I think this topic is debatable.  I don't agree! MGA didn't steel the idea but i do agree he created the idea based on the Barbie Doll.  I don't think Barbie should be trying to file a law suit against the Bratz franchise because they both offer different styles and perhaps appeal to different consumers.  For example Barbie consumers might be a bit more girlier then the Bratz crowd.  

" According to Mattel, the company is entitled to a stake in Bryant's original drawings because of an intellectual-property agreement in his contract, a version of events upheld by a U.S. district court judge in 2008. MGA claimed that Bryant was not working for Mattel at the time he created the sketches. (According to records, Bryant worked for Mattel from September 1995 to April 1998, returned in January 1999 and left again in October 2000 before joining MGA.)"

Perhaps Bryant did steal the idea and took it to another company to recieve recognition but like the article says technically speaking Bryant would only have to give up the first collection of Bratz that came out.  I think compensating them for the 

EOC Week 6: Illicit Trade

Today in class we watched a documentary regarding illegal trade.  I learned that counter fit in modern day society isn't just being used for fake bags or fake good, there are also smugglers smuggling weapons, drugs, and even organs for humans that are in need of a donor. Illicit trade happens all over and isn't being stopped in most cases because it provides people with jobs and generates lots of money. China plays a big factor in this illegal trade.  People in China are working full time jobs counter fitting the latest on demand product consumers all want, but cant afford, this is why this market will never die down and will always generate money.  We all want these luxuries things but can't always afford them.  My personal thoughts towards illegal trade are very un-bias. I don't agree nor do I disagree with this market.  I believe this is what people have to do to make a living now a days.  When i say i don't disagree I'm not referring to the black market trade.   I don't think its right to sell peoples human organs on the internet because God only knows what people are doing to get those human organs.  I mean for the small things like merchant goods and what not I don't see any harm in that, but as far as human trafficking for money? that's just wrong. 

EOC Week 5: Patent Claim

Patents have a life span of 17 or 20 years. To keep them valid, companies must pay maintenance fees every four years. Once they expire, the holder is expected to remove the numbers from products.  I think its important to always document and protect your own work and ideas specially in today's society.  If you aren't keeping up by protecting your idea's by a creating a patent, someone else could easily construct what is rightfully yours and call it their own.  I found this article very interesting because I thought once you have received a patent for your creation nobody can come around and claim its their own.  That's where I was mistaken, in order for your patent to stay protected you have to ensure its still current every 4 years because sometimes patents expire.  If you don't protect your patent you are running the risk of either being fined $500 for failure to renewing or even worse someone can come and still your creation and sell it else where without your consent.  Technically they aren't at fault because your patent has expired leaving it free for others to claim their own.

EOC: Week 4 Jeopardy Feedback

I think the game was fun and definitely challenging.  It was very helpful it aloud the entire class to  participate & be involved.The game constantly had you thinking it had you skimming pages looking for answers.  Even if we didn't know the answer before the question was asked you still found it useful knowledge because once you heard it you were able to right it down for future references.  This is a great learning method for mid term exam preparations.

EOC: Week 3 Jeopardy

1.       How long is the statutory period for a design patent? A.  Design patents only last 14 years.

2.       When was the American Invent Act founded? A.  September, 2011.

3.       Infringement action is required when the blank is granted.  A. Patent

EOC Week 1: My Voice

My name is Jose Gonzalez and im currently a senior studying Fashion &Retail Management at The Art Institute of Las Vegas. I moved out to Vegas about two and a half years ago, originally from Santa Barbara, CA. I come from a small town where fashion isn’t the big interest therefore I decided if I wanted to pursue my career in fashion I would have to relocate. I currently now work as a Manager at a woman’s clothing store better know as Ann Taylor. I have been working with Ann Taylor for about one year and 3 months now. I plan on pursuing my career with Ann Taylor and perhaps running my own store in the Las Vegas district in the next year. I later on plan on moving to the East Coast to pursue corporate level work, I plan on working with the buying team and look forward to working with the brand for the next few years. Of course buying wont be the only focus, Id also like to pursue developing my own clothing brand. I want to develop an online business that produces tees, tanks, hoodies, and underwear. I want to cater my business to the gay community and perhaps expand to other consumer markets. I believe Fashion is everywhere that is why I am so passionate of what I do.

EOC: Week 2 Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich is a movie based on a true story.  The movie is about a woman in her mid 30's struggling to feed her 3 children and to make matters worse is unemployed and attempting to sew a doctor for running her over.  Erin's behavior during court causes her to loose her case and decides to vent off to her lawyer.  She then surprises her lawyer by storming into his firm and demanding him to employ her in exchange for loosing her case.  It didn't take long for Erin to keep busy that's when she discovered the water issue that was happening in the town.  As time goes by and research builds up she then realizes a pattern that is happening in these homes.  It turns out the neighbors around this factory are becoming ill and so are their families.  Erin and her boss Ed approach PG & E regarding these cases and of course they offer a settlement of $250,000 for each family which  they refused.  As the movie goes Erin continues to look into this and comes to find out that there was chromium in their water which was causing illnesses and serious health issues.  As the movie ends PG& E decides to settle for a compensation of $333 million dollars to be split equally among the families, 40% of that money was agreed to go to Ed for taking on the case.  Of course Erin deserved the credit for taking this case on and she was also awarded $2 million on her share.