Clothing Design and Sales

 

Clothing design does not have copyright because clothing is considered untilitarian and functional, rather than artistic. We may disagree with this assessment, but nevertheless the law is that Clothing design does not have copyright protection.  Therefore, clothing designers are free to imitate existing designs from the current day or from history.  Clothing designers are free to see expensive clothes on the fashion runways or red carpets and then create knock-off versions that will be sold at Target (for example).

Art works printed onto clothing, such as graphic t-shirts, do have copyright protection.  

Fabric designs also have copyright protection.  

Trademarks on clothing also have protection.  There are many registered trademarks that are used on different brands of clothing, on handbags, etc.  It is illegal to create counterfeit clothing or handbags that have imitation trademarks that try to fool people into buying these fakes.

A clothing line can also have a registered trademark.  Most high-end design houses have numerous trademarks to protect their clothing brands.

Contracts are also used in the clothing design business.  For example, a designer might sign an exclusive contract to create designs for a certain company.  Or a designer might sign a licensing contract to allow her or his name to be used by a certain clothing company for a set amount of time.  The actual clothing items may or may not be designed by that designer, but their name is being lent to the designs and should be up to their approval or standards.  

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Writers

 

Copyright protects the creative works of writers -- for everything from blogs to poems to novels to screenplays.  Literary works can and should be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.  There used to be a myth that writings could be protected by mailing them to yourself.  This is silly and not true.  It is easy and relatively inexpensive to register Copyright at the U.S. Copyright Office using the online Electonic Copyright Office (ECo).

A writer, publisher, or editor can register a trademark on their name or the name or logo of their company.  This can be very tricky, though, since the US Trademark Office requires these services to be provided "for others."  For example, if a publisher is publishing mainly books they have authored themselves, they cannot register a service trademark as a publisher, but they may be able to register a goods trademark on the books.  There are many rules, so you should have a Trademark lawyer advise you and prosecute your trademarks. Trademark is complex and is not a do-it-yourself activity.

Contracts are frequently used in the Writing world -- whenever the writer's work is used in a magazine or published as a book or optioned by a producer to be made into a movie.  Always have a lawyer work on these contracts. 

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Theatre and Musical Stage Plays

 

Contracts and licensing are the legal backbone for the creation and production of theater and musical stage plays.  

Contracts form agreements between writers and producers and song writing.  

Copyright registration protects stage plays and musical stage plays as Works of the Performing Arts (PA).  These are dramatic works meant to be performed before an audience.  The registration includes the book, the musical libretto, and the stage directions.

Songs that are part of a musical dramatic work, such as a musical stage play or opera, are exempt from the compulsory licensing law that requires songwriters or copyright owners to allow the song to be licensed for cover recordings.  Therefore, if you want to make a cover version of a song from a musical, you must ask permission and negotiate the terms and price directly with the owner of the copyright on the song.  That's why it is rare and special for a popular song from a musical to be released as a single by an different artist.  It has happened, of course, such as when the Cowsills released their version of "Hair."  From "Phantom of the Opera," Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson released their version of "All I Ask of You."  This means that their lawyers negotiated a contract to give them permission to record and release this song and agreed on terms of payment.

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top: Photo by Sean Lee on Unsplash

Festivals, Venues, and Events

 

 

Contracts are the backbone of any well-organized music festival.  There are contracts for the venue or outdoor space, contracts for the staging and equipment, contracts for all the music artists, contracts for the porta-potties, contracts for security, contracts for water trucks, contracts for concessions, contracts for ticketing, contracts and permitting with the local governments, contracts with insurance companies, contracts for medical workers. Even the simplest of festivals can involve hundreds of contracts and each contract must be negotiated, written, and read.  

Festivals are detail-heavy.  If the people running a festival think it is going to happen by magic, they will be creating a disaster for those who buy tickets.  Read about the 2017 Fyre Festival if you want to know how badly a festival can be screwed up.

Trademarks come into play with festivals.  At the very least, the name of your festival should have a registered trademark.  That's so someone else cannot come along and steal the name of your festival from you and try to piggyback off your hard work and crowd appeal. 

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