Copyright Aid

Hi Andy,

Thank you for your reply!
So do you basically mean that fonts can be sold, but not licensed? There are many big companies that charge a lot for the licensed use of these fonts, what a crazy situation.

Are there any "standard" fonts (nothing exotic, just a very general font) that are officially in the public domain? I know there are thousands of websites that offer fonts that are free for commercial and private use, but how can one actually know that these fonts are not just copies of an...

Hi Andy, There was absolutely no notice about any EULA at the time of purchase nor is there such a thing anywhere on the website, i have invested a lot of time searching for it and couldn't find anything. I even re-downloaded the software to see if there is maybe a pop-up EULA before you can downloa...

Hi Andy, I had to remove the last part of my previous post since I realized that by posting excerpts of the terms of use on this forum I am actually violating these very terms of use :shock: ...or would this be considered fair use? I did actually download the software from this website...the purchas...

Changing my name to Dorothy Perkins so I can make that my website domain? Wait...that's a great idea! :lol: Just kidding. Thank you for explaining the difference between a domain name and a trademark. I did believe that using a "descriptive" URL name would help optimize search engine resul...

Thanks again so much for your response. Regarding the matter of “similarityâ€￾, how similar exactly can a name be before it is considered infringement? For example, in the world of language teaching there seem to be dozens of names built around the term “linguaâ€￾ - lingoda.com, lingolia.com, golingua, lolingua, solingua, etc. They seem quite similar to me, yet apparently it is possible for these to exist next to each other – do you think any of these names are “too similarâ€￾ to another name on the list? I heard somewhere that even the two names Magnavox and Multivox were in a court case considered to be “too similarâ€￾. Or is there a big difference between calling an URL and a company name? If I don't have an official company name registered, does my URL somehow automatically become my company name?

Coming back to your previous email, you mentioned that simply using your name is a good reason to choose a URL/tradename that is very similar to someone else. In my own case, if I used learngermanwithsusi.com, wouldn't that exactly be the case? “learn german withâ€￾, would that not be considered “descriptiveâ€￾? And susi is simply my name. So as I understand it, the “learn german withâ€￾ part couldn't be protected anyways, and what is left over – the name – is not the same.
I am also wondering about these URL names that are basically ONLY descriptive, for example “learngerman.comâ€￾ or “learngermanonline.comâ€￾ or “howtospeakgermanâ€￾, or “easygermanlearningâ€￾ or something like this. Again they are often very similar yet many of these domains exist, are they all knowingly or unknowingly infringing or does the descriptiveness of the URL change the matter?Or what about the scenario of calling my website “sayitinGermanâ€￾, when there is already a website called “sayitinSpanishâ€￾?
As you can see I am a bit clueless. I am not too much worried about someone “stealingâ€￾ my name, I am more concerned about unknowingly chosing a domain/tradename that will later cause me trouble.

The problem I have is that pretty much all tradenames already exist in some way, not matter what word I come up with, there will be someone else who is already using it in some way. For example, I thought about calling it "Starfish German Learning" but there is already a company called &qu...

Hello, it is me again :) This time I have a question about a website name/trading name. I am planning to sell language video courses from a website called something like learngermanwithsusi. I am not sure if I have to register as a business if I do this, but if I do i would also call my "compan...

Hi, Thanks again for your very informative and helpful reply! Copyright can be extremely confusing and it is good to hear the opinion of someone who has experience with this. Actually I am quite certain that this is a mass-produced diary, it is sold not just by one seller but by dozens of seller on ...

If I buy a rather "artful" diary on Ebay (retro looking, with keys and lock and all that fancy stuff) and then use it in my film in which someone is writing in this diary, could I be infringing on the copyright owner of the designer of this diary?

Thanks for that very clear reply! I am definitely not intending to record them on purpose, it is the opposite - I wished I could completely eliminate them from the recording but it is almost impossible!

But what you say makes sense and gives me peace of mind!

I am making video course for which I record myself speaking in front of my PC. Unfortunately, my neighbours who have little kids are very noisy and I hear them pretty much all the time shouting around. I try to edit stuff out but it is difficult to get it all. So my question is, if I have their voic...