Fashion Design

I designed a coat, bought the fabric and engaged a seamstress to make the coat. She made a cotton pattern of the coat before she made the coat so i could try it on. I yold her that I wanted the pattern when the coat was done. She mumble somehting like ''I don't see why, but OK.'' The coat is fininshed. I paid her and took the coat. When I asked for the pattern she stated ''I never give my patterns away.: I said but it's my design. She refused. What rights do I ahve to this pattern?

Trademark / corporate name

Regarding a company using my same corporate name... There is a company that has the same name. They do venture capital. I do investment banking for real estate developers. Different business model but under investment services realm. What level of concern should I have that this company could preclude me from using my company name?

Statute of Limitations Copyright Infringement

In a case for copyright infringement how long is the statute of limitations? The circumstances are that the Plaintiff filed a case against an unknown John Doe 5 months ago and has yet to find/serve Doe. Does service need to be within 1 yr of filing or of 1 year of knowing of the infringement, or is it a greater amount of time?

Intellectual Prop Law Questions

What are some important questions I should ask an Intellect Prop Law attorney?

co-signer for a loan

If you are a co-signer for a loan/mortgage how can you get your name off the loan if you are no longer living at the residence

book publication

If a minor publishes a book about her stay at a mental hospital and mentions names and situations of other minors from the hospital, what are the legal ramifications that could occur. The hospital name is not mentioned, but her therapist worked at the hospital, and he has written an introduction to the book using his name.

Getting a truck back

About a yr. ago an employee asked me to get a truck under my name and she'd pay me for it. She had poor credit so i did under the terms that she would provide the insurance and pay the monthly payment. she stopped working for me & went to work in Louisiana and would send the monthly payment all the time until about 4 mths ago. I tried contacting her but no answer. I want the truck back since she can't pay for it. I have 3 addressess from the money orders she would send I asked an officer what to do & they said to send her a certified letter telling her she needs to either bring back the truck or tell me where to pick it up. It's been almost a month since i sent it and no answer. What can I do to get the truck back. PLEASE HELP ME!

thank you & sorry for the inconvenience

Intellectual Property misappropriated?

A $5 million in sales financial svcs company called ABC with 3 board members. The CEO & 54% owner and board member transfers about $1.0 m in software & IP to a company XYZ controlled by he and his brother-in-law. The other ABC BOD members own 30% & 10% of ABC.

He said it was being protected in XYZ which would be owned by ABC company. The other BOD members found out he & his brother-in-law really own XYZ. The ABC board members tell the outside legal counsel who makes excuses. We cannot afford to sue him. ABC is an NASD broker dealer. Should we go to the NASD or the SEC or the state which has a serious criminal IP theft statute? The State Attorney may not touch it. The state FDLE department might. FDLE is like the state police.

Home ownership

How do i obtain home ownership legally when I have a co-owner that refuses to contact me to to sign any paper and has not been paying any part of the mortgage for over 4 months?

Please help.......

breach of contract

I have a signed contract and the other party has not kept there end of the contract. Can I sue them for it, and does this release me from my part of the contract?

Copyright Law

If a company produces a document but does NOT file with the Lib of Cong for a copyright for 5 months and before the copyright is filed someone posts the info online (but makes no money doing it-just posts it for others to read) is the poster going to be liable for any damages for having posted the material?

My general impression is that the 'author' or his company would be able to assert that it was their material even if not copyrighted immediately, BUT to recover damages it has to be copyrighted.

Is this correct? Comments please.

Copyright & Trade Secret Case Pending

I am interested in knowing if there are any attorneys in the Jackson County area who are up on Copyright and Trade Secret litigation and can provide a consultation on a case found at:

targetfiling(dot)blogspot(dot)com

for some reason the rocket scientists who designed this site won't allow a url in the body of the question so you get to look at it with (dot) where a (.) should be!

intellectual property

There are 3 people involved in this situation. 2 are writing a movie script of a true life story of the 3rd person.

(3 equal parts) We need the 3rd person to sign an agreement that she has allowed us to write her story and if it gets sold, we would get paid fair market value, not omitted from project

Photographer's rights to sell/copyright an image

I am a photographer and I would like to take artistic photographs of popular board game. Only certain portions would be shown in any one photograph and the game in it's entirety would never shown. Also, logos, etc. would not be photographed.

Can I sell these photographs on my website, as long as I don't use them to advertise my company? Do I have to get written permission to sell them?

Also, can I copyright them as original, unpublished works?

I live in Illinois, but this is most likely a U.S. law question.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Publishing

Can an individual or company publish a book with the exact same title as mine? I thought that ideas aren't copyrighted but shouldn't titles be?

personal relationship problem

i have dated this man for 3 years he has a considerable amount of money, over the years we have gave expensive gifts i have jewelery that he has gave me for birthday and christmas-i have broken off the relationship for non committly-i am not getting any younger- am i legally obligated to return my gifts to him?

answers to an opposition

Are there any forms that can guide someone representing themselves in a Trademark opposition where i need to file an answer to the opposition.

snow on sidewalks

I am a delivery driver. If i slip and injure myself do to snow or ice on a driveway or sidewalk who is reasponsible

a new home

I just bougth a new home an I was told that the loan officer ordered the inspection and my realtor told me that an is still saying that. Well the inspection was not done an the house needs work. I have a paper stating that the tital company did not do inspection so I signed that because I was told it was already done. I wan to know can I get out of this home or I'm I stuck with the work.

TV Downloading

Is it legal to download a TV episode that has been aired on public broadcast television using a BitTorrent client?