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Topic: Can company sell you book and call it their IP? (Read 1960 times) |
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Anonymous.Spammer
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Can company sell you book and call it their IP?
« on: Dec 15th, 2006, 8:52am » |
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a company called PowerScore offers LSAT prep courses and gives you, as part of your payment for these courses, books and materials.
The company forces you to agree to their "Enrollment Agreement" (Search for "lsat_wk_enroll_agreement" on Google) which states that the books and materials you paid for are the sole and exclusive property of PowerScore and are their IP.
How can a company sell you a book and then tell you that the book is their sole and exclusive property, as well as their IP
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Lyza
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Posts: 360
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Re: Can company sell you book and call it their IP
« Reply #1 on: Dec 15th, 2006, 10:34am » |
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I'm not an attorney, but it just means that you can't copy and resell yourself. That's the way it works.
If you buy a music group's CD, it does not make you the owner of the songs contained in it. The songs, copyrights and IP remain the property of the group. If you create something, a song or book, you will want to protect your creation and make money from it just as they do. Otherwise, it's piracy.
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Lyza L. Sandgren, President/CEO
CanopyLegal LLC
lyza2855@gmail.com
www.canopylegal.com
North Amer. Rep for WebTMS TM Mgmt System
This message should be mistaken for or construed as legal advice.
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pg1067
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Posts: 37
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Re: Can company sell you book and call it their IP
« Reply #2 on: Dec 18th, 2006, 4:44pm » |
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on Dec 15th, 2006, 8:52am, Anonymous.Spammer wrote:| How can a company sell you a book and then tell you that the book is their sole and exclusive property, as well as their IP |
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That's an oddly worded question. How do we explain HOW the company does this? And why is that relevant?
Presumably, there is no reason to disbelieve that the company owns the copyrights in the materials (i.e., the book is the company's IP). Additionally, if you entered into a contract, pursuant to which the company retained ownership of the book, then what do you have to complain about. If you didn't like the terms of the contract, you didn't have to agree to it.
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JSonnabend
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Posts: 2251
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Re: Can company sell you book and call it their IP
« Reply #3 on: Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am » |
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Quote:| That's an oddly worded question. How do we explain HOW the company does this? And why is that relevant? |
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Well, we could explain the legal bases for such a statement, couldn't we? If you need to ask why this is relevant, perhaps you shouldn't be contributing legal counsel here.
Quote:| Presumably, there is no reason to disbelieve that the company owns the copyrights in the materials (i.e., the book is the company's IP). |
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No, the contents of the book are "the company's IP", not the book itself. From the OP's statement of facts, it's not clear at all what the terms of the agreement are, nor if they'd be enforceable.
Rather than than telling the OP to "stop complaining", if you're unable to provide qualified opinion, it's probably better not to provide anything at all.
- Jeff
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| « Last Edit: Dec 19th, 2006, 6:14am by JSonnabend » |
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SonnabendLaw
Intellectual Property and Technology Law
Brooklyn, USA
718-832-8810
JSonnabend@SonnabendLaw.com
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pg1067
Newbie
Posts: 37
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Re: Can company sell you book and call it their IP
« Reply #4 on: Dec 19th, 2006, 9:30am » |
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on Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am, JSonnabend wrote:
Well, we could explain the legal bases for such a statement, couldn't we? |
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We could, but that wasn't the question.
on Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am, JSonnabend wrote:
If you need to ask why this is relevant, perhaps you shouldn't be contributing legal counsel here. |
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In my opinion, HOW the company does this isn't relevant. What's relevant is whether the claim is viable.
on Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am, JSonnabend wrote:
No, the contents of the book are "the company's IP", not the book itself. |
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No, the book is. You're needlessly assuming that "book" refers to the physical copy. Of course there is a distinction between the copyright laws that cover the work of authorship and the disposition of physical copies, which would be governed entirely by contract law.
on Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am, JSonnabend wrote:
From the OP's statement of facts, it's not clear at all what the terms of the agreement are, nor if they'd be enforceable. |
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I believe the salient terms are abundantly clear (I'd also note that I began my comment with "IF you entered into a contract...."). It's also very common for standardized test prep companies to include provisions relating to the disposition of their study materials, so there's no mystery here as far as I'm concerned. Such provisions are completely enforceable under the laws of any state.
on Dec 19th, 2006, 6:11am, JSonnabend wrote:
Rather than than telling the OP to "stop complaining", if you're unable to provide qualified opinion, it's probably better not to provide anything at all. |
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Curious that you purport to quote me, but I never said "stop complaining." I asked him WHY he was complaining. Those are rather different things. My opinion is perfectly "qualified." Perhaps you need to read a little more closely and not read things into posts that aren't there. 
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