(taken from etsy.com, laymansiplaw.wordpress.com and http://www.copyright.gov/)
What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is an umbrella term referring to commercially valuable creations of the mind. These creations include inventions, artwork, symbols, names, and designs. Intellectual property protection options include copyrights, trademarks, and patents. The appropriate protection option depends on the work itself. For example, a copyright may protect creative expression such as a painting, a book, or a jewelry design. A trademark may protect a word, logo, symbol, or design that identifies the creator of a product. A patent may protect new technological innovations.
What is a copyright?
In the US, copyright is a form of protection grounded in the US Constitution for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright protects, for example, literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as paintings, sculptures, poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. With exception, copyright protection exists from the moment of creation and lasts until 70 years after the death of the creator.
How is a copyright different from a patent or a trademark?
In the US, copyright protects “original works of authorship,” while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Copyright protects creative expression, whether that expression is in the form of, for example, a painting, a book, or a sculpture. A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.
For example, I don't have to open a box of cereal or read the ingredient list to know the quality of the cereal. By looking at the logo on the box I know who made the cereal and I know what to expect. The logo on a cereal box is probably a trademark while the artistic design on the box is probably a copyright.
Do I have to file any forms for copyright protection?
No. In the United States, copyright protection automatically exists from the moment the work is created. However, it is suggested to register your work with the US copyright office. It is highly suggested to register your work within three months of publication (posting an image on the Internet may constitute publication).
When does copyright begin and expire?
Understanding when the term of a copyright will begin and expire is important because once a copyright expires the content usually enters the public domain and can be considered fair use. I say usually because there are certain extensions and adjustments that could be made to a copyright depending on the circumstances of the work.
The work you create enters the protection of copyright as soon as it is created and fixed (as discussed above). Electronically produced works usually have some type of auto label for files, emails or other electronic formats. It would be smart if you are transcribing the idea from your hand to sign it and even date it. If it is really sensitive material it wouldn’t hurt to have a witness sign and date it or have it notarized. However, if you plan on bring an infringement lawsuit against someone, you DO have to have a registered copyright issued by the U.S. Copyright Office. You can learn more about the process here, but for registering works that represent major investments and are more likely to infringed upon, I would consult a copyright lawyer.
For works that were created after January 1st, 1978, an author has copyright protection for their entire life, and whoever holds the rights to the copyright after the author’s death will have protection for an additional 70 years from the date of death. This means if you write a song, and the recording is made popular by a musician, which results in numerous artists wanting to cover your song on their albums, for the rest of your life you are entitled to the licensing fees of using the words you wrote. After you die, you can leave the copyright to someone who will have the same entitlements for 70 years. Neither of you are entitled to the copyright surrounding the recording though since you were not the recording artist, only the songwriter.
In situations where the author is anonymous, used a pseudonym, or produced the work for hire the copyright has a set term of 95 years from the year it was first published, or a 120 years from the year of creation, which is decided by which expiration happens first.
https://www.rennerlawllc.com/copyright-infringement.html
TAXES
http://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/personal-income-taxes/tax-deductions.htm
TAXES
"You can deduct that." "You can write that off." "Deductible expenses."
You've probably heard these phrases a hundred times. But what do they mean? What are tax deductions and how do they work? And why are tax deductions so important?
Calendar
Sept 27th
Assignment # 2 due
Introduction to Assignment #3
Copyright material/Ownership/Selling online
Q and A prep for Melanie Bilenker
Oct 4th
Visiting lecture Melanie Bilenker
Q and A prep for Field trip Sophie Hughes
Production/budgets/time
Rough draft of Assignment #3 due
Oct 11th
Field trip to Gallery ORE/MIT/Nervous System
Oct 18th
Midterm Reviews
Oct 25th
Visiting lecture Sara Abramson ETSY
Introduction to Assignment #4
Assignment # 3 due
In class presentations for Assignment #1 due
Q and A prep for Rebekah Frank
Nov 1st
Rough draft of Assignment #4 due
Skype call with Rebekah Frank
Photographing your work
Q and A prep for Bre Petis
Nov 8th
Skype lecture for Bre Petis
Last day to withdraw Nov 2nd
Nov 15th
Q and A prep for Bre Petis
Running a business, partners, etc.
Introduction of Assignment #5
Nov 22nd
Thanksgiving break no class
Nov 29th
List of requirements for final
Short presentation on Professional work
Brief lecture on my limited production work
Q and A prep for Veleta Vanzca
Dec 6th
Final day wrap up.
visit from Veleta Vanzca
Assignment # 5 due
Assignment #4 due
Dec14th
Final Review
Assignment #3
Defining and describing your creative practice.
2 - 3 pages
During second semester senior year, you will create your artist statement as part of your degree project. This short writing assignment can be used as a beginning for formulating your thoughts about your creative practice. What is it about jewelry that excites you? How do you define yourself as an artist or designer? What motivates your ideas and ambitions? Is there a specific or recurring theme or content within your jewelry work?
For some time I have been interested in how various cultures portray nature as an explanation of beauty. How nature is mediated by ornamentation and aestheticized continues to hold my interest. Particularly in jewelry, which is my primary format, interpretations of beauty seem to be intractable. My own interest in this subject has evolved and what I seek to characterize as beauty has shifted from an integrated ornamental condition to a more incidental bodily appearance, which I believe matters, thus the title for this series. These works are intended as topographies of sorts, skin like, land like, amalgams that are taken from the body and brought back to the body. I use the word body here both as a euphemism and actually. The materials I choose are critical to the physical character of the work and the resulting experience for the viewer. How things appear to us are the result of our value systems, and I am interested in representing what I value.
The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants. I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes, the mundane, the domestic, the ordinary moments.
As an individual with diabetes, my work is inspired by my own health and risk of medical complications. For Covet, I have drawn additional social context from 18th century dining and the intricate service ware used at the time. Dining for the aristocracy was more about ostentation, display, and consumption of wealth than it was about the necessity of eating in the 1700’s. Wealth and status of the owner was conveyed through platters, tureens, and distinct forms such as epergnes. Expensive and rare ingredients were elaborately prepared and served in elaborate tableware, which was placed precisely at table for full impact during each course. Multiple delicacies were served at each course, from platters of rabbit or game meats in their entire form (today a gruesome image), exotic soups and vegetable forced to grow in winter to sugar coated fruits and exotic sweet meats. The display of each course was abundant and gluttonous. A dinner service could last five hours or more. When looking back at dining in the 18th century and placing in a social context, it was clearly a display of wealth, power and status. In the present day, such overindulgences can have deadly consequences, leading to obesity, diabetes, and diabetic complications. I drew from the beauty of the table service to recreate an intricate vessel, but now the gruesome image is the shrouded human consequence of such action.’
I am interested in the relationship between material and source, and the expansive meanings rooted in these connections. I investigate how materials collect their identity according to their geographic origins, cultural histories, and finally as part of a descriptive inventory for the objects they become. By gathering material and information I personalize the connection to the source and attempt to make tangible that bond. I account for the journey from source to viewer, acting as a liaison, intent on bringing the two worlds closer to one another. I attempt to inspire the viewer to consider a complex network of historical, economic, and geopolitical forces that bring an object into existence. Thus intentionally collapsing the notion that art or any designed object, can emerge from an insular creative bubble, untouched by history, culture and economy. My specific use of material is dictated by my own inability to express what the material can express with authority. As a maker, I cannot create what the material holds within it, thus I borrow the power of material to communicate. In turn, as a maker I release a form of the material’s own agency that it cannot release itself. This is a cooperative act.
The materials I engage share a thread of precarious rarity. They are symbols and symptoms of late capital. Through engagement with the body I explore materials whose cultural meaning are in transition, while using the body as a metaphor for a larger context.
I view my work as tangible manifestations of research. The physical object is only half of the output. The other half exists as documentation. What I present is my attempt to find a balance between the physical thing and thoughts, ideas and research in order for the work to be understandable, engaging, and provoking.
The materials I engage share a thread of precarious rarity. They are symbols and symptoms of late capital. Through engagement with the body I explore materials whose cultural meaning are in transition, while using the body as a metaphor for a larger context.
I view my work as tangible manifestations of research. The physical object is only half of the output. The other half exists as documentation. What I present is my attempt to find a balance between the physical thing and thoughts, ideas and research in order for the work to be understandable, engaging, and provoking.
