Rule of law

As an intellectual property lawyer Lawrence G. Townsend seemed to truly want me to know how far I could go with my photography as long as I was willing to obey by the law and had a basic understanding of copyright and trademark. As a beginning photographer I was aware of some of the things that I would have to do in order to make sure the law was followed but I was unaware of exactly how much of the law in incorporated into photography. When having say a trademark you have to go through many steps. “ Often a trademark owner may wish to vary a trademark to capitalize on marketing and cultural trends.” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark an intellectual property desk reference, Richard Stim, pg.473) These steps that you take make sure that you are not infringing upon something someone else may have possibly come up with. “ However, an issue arises as to whether this modification results in a new mark or whether it is a continuation of the first mark and can claim priority on that  basis.” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark an intellectual property desk reference, Richard Stim, pg.473) Mr. Townsend had explained to me that Intellectual Property law can be very touchy. There are ways around many things but there are also many ways to trap someone.  I was informed that even some pictures could not even be used as a mark. “ Pictures and symbols my be protectable as marks if they are distinctive rather than descriptive.” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark an intellectual property desk reference, Richard Stim, pg.454)  Establishing a way for intellectual property law and how it incorporates into photography was my main goal in this project. I wanted to see just how far I could take things. I needed to better understand why there were so many rules and laws that were actually related to my field. Many of the trademark and copyright laws actually help according to Mr. Townsend. He told me that when establishing a business if that is my goal I would have quite a few steps to take and one of the first would be making sure that what I wanted to come up with is a name.  He informed me that whether  I knew it or not many names become trademarks and I would have to make sure that what I chose was not infringing. “A trademark search is an investigation to discover potential conflicts between a proposed mark and an existing one.” (Patent, Copyright & Trademark an intellectual property desk reference, Richard Stim, pg.384)  Overall I was able to achieve a lot of knowledge on the law and how it works with photography.