Category Copyright & Fair Use

Workaholism, Depression & Suicide: The Hidden Mental Cost of Success & The Healing Power of No

Entrepreneurship is hard in bad times, tougher in good ones. “I’ve lost my mind to the game. Like Vincent Van Gogh. He dedicated his life to his craft, & lost his mind. That’s happening to me. But f*ck It. When… Continue Reading →

Depositions & The Discovery Process

Hope you enjoyed part 8 on the Statute of Limitations in our series on Idea Theft . Welcome to Part 9 on depositions and the discovery process. Recall that copying involves the factual issue of whether the defendant actually used the plaintiff’s work in… Continue Reading →

The Statute of Limitations (aka Prescription)

Hope you enjoyed part 7 on damages in our series on Idea Theft . Welcome to Part 8 on Prescription or the Statue of Limitations. A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems such as Quebec as a prescriptive period, is a law… Continue Reading →

The Paradox of Damages in Legal Cases

Hope you enjoyed part 6 on copyright infringement precedents featuring the concept of implied contracts, and the expectation of good faith dealing in our series on Idea Theft . Welcome to Part 7 on Damages. Estimating Damages in an Injunction When I wrote… Continue Reading →

You Can’t Handle the Truth

Hope you enjoyed part 5 in our series on Idea Theft. Welcome to Part 6 on Copyright Infringement Precedents and Implied Contracts. If in this series I have mentioned – on the World Wide Web for all people to see – an idea… Continue Reading →

Hollywood Perfected the Art of Gaslighting

Hope you enjoyed part 4 on how victims are exposed, and expose themselves to Idea Theft. Welcome to Part 5. The Evolution of Storytelling Before launching WatchMojo, I wanted to produce scripted stories: comedy and drama. When WatchMojo turned ten in 2016,… Continue Reading →

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

Hope you enjoyed part 3 on Diplomacy in our series on Idea Theft. Welcome to Part 4, which explains how victims expose themselves to Idea Theft in the first place. A Brave New World I’m not trying to be the Ronan Farrow of… Continue Reading →

Diplomacy v Intimidation: Ways People Are Intimidated to Shut Up

Hope you enjoyed part 2 of our series on Idea Theft, welcome to Part 3. Picasso was known to say: “Good artists create, great artists steal.” At least he admitted it! When someone takes your project and develops it without… Continue Reading →

Hollywood is About Ideas & Relationships; Equality & Justice Be Damned

Hope you enjoyed part 1 of our series on Idea Theft, welcome to Part 2. Hollywood likes to project its utopian ideals, but the reality is it has a foundation rooted in piracy and a history of fostering inequality. A day of reckoning… Continue Reading →

Hollywood’s Other Dirty Secret: Idea Theft

Hollywood’s practices have come under scrutiny in the wake of the Time’s Up/MeToo movement, the growing chorus of discontent around under-representation, and more recently, abusive behavior. In this series, I dive into the concept of Idea Theft. TL;DR: If this… Continue Reading →

The Case Against ContentID

Having spent 10 years navigating the DMCA and how YouTube’s ContentID tool manages claims, I’m not surprised to see the copyright tool used as a weapon to censor. I’ve chronicled my adventures with copyright law and fair use quite a… Continue Reading →

Fair Use is an Extension of User Rights and Freedom of Speech

The purpose of copyright is to promote the arts and sciences. Fair use – via commentary or parody – also promotes the arts and sciences. But at its root, fair use’s importance in history and politics is far more profound… Continue Reading →

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