Confusion of Name
- March 14, 2011 @ 5:55pmLittledip says:My Family business that i am not involved with any more is going bankrupt and selling. I have prints and a manual that were drawn while I was working there being a part of its design back as far as about the late 70s. I sent them to the copyright to have a keepsake for my self using the company name. My dad who is no longer with us never had anything copyrighted, Trademarked or patent. I want to know if this was ok to do and If I start a new company with the name we used that is not fully registered as a business name, copyrighted or trade marked but has been used for many years only to be identified of its own from many other companies with similar names, can I use it?? The domain name is also available and Can I use this.
Thanks - March 17, 2011 @ 9:10amFreya Anderson says:It seems to me that the issues you bring up here are primarily related to trademark, contract, and bankruptcy law than to copyright. Regarding the prints and manual, whether or not they are under copyright protection depends upon when they were created and whether they were created as regular work by company employees or under contract. You can use the digital copyright slider, linked on this website, to determine whether or not each item would be under copyright. If not, and if trademark or patent don't come in to play, anyone should be able to use them, including you, although they would not have further copyright protection unless transformed in some way. If they were created as regular work by employees of the company, I would think that they would be assets of the company and their disposition would be determined during the bankruptcy process.
I'm not conversant on trademark issues, such as using the name of the company, and that is not the focus of this board. However, perhaps someone else with that background may comment.
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