Hello,

I want to post a new project on Freelancer.com. The project would be a web design project (a Photoshop web design). After the project has been completed, I want to have all the right to the web design (I want to be the full owner of the web design), so I can sell the design as my own (I want to sell the design on let’s say TemplateMonster and/or ThemeForest).

I’ve consulted the staff at Freelancer.com and they said, that I should get legal assistance. They also said, that the best way to do this is to make a contract (an agreement) between me and the freelancer (the one who creates the design).

This is where I need help. I need help with the writing of the contract.

I will soon be opening a new web design & development company & I myself am a coder & not a designer.

I have been freelancing for several years & working with designers, but I am starting to get more serious about it all & more professional.

I will be contracting the design portion of the websites to professional designers, but want them to sign a contract (once-off kind of thing that will cover any work they do for my business) that basically covers the below points..

* Any design they do for us (our clients/work we refer to them) will be displayed in our portfolio but will not be attributed to them

* They are welcome to display the piece in their portfolio under the condition it states something like “Designed for MyBusinessName”

* They will NOT poach the client or contact them stating they were responsible for the design

I basically was wondering if any existing type contract for this exists or will I need a custom contract drawn up?

Thanks a lot!

City: San Diego

So,

My buddy has a house next to my college that he said I can park at, he told me that the driveway is full but I can park next to it.

A little background as to the design of the front of his house. His driveway is large enough to fit 4 cars parked in two tandem spaces, however directly to the right of that paved driveway there is another equal sized area (which used to be the front lawn) but is now just dirt.

I would be parking on that dirt portion of his property.

What I was wondering is, am I allowed to park there? I have heard from some friends that you can be sited for something, but I was unable to find any VC stating that.

Thanks,
B

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Parking on private property – off the driveway

Hopefully some of this will be moot, but I would like to know my rights for the future, just in case.

Here is the situation: I own a building with my business located in it and it has 2 apartments upstairs. I have sometimes stayed in one of the apartments if I’m working really late and just wish to crash there. My 21 year old son has been staying in the other apartment for four years. There is no ‘rental agreement/lease’ with him. I it is just me taking care of him while he builds his design/art portfolio, and finishes school. He has no job, per se, except helping me around the building on occasion. I also provide him some daily money for meals, as he has no outside ‘job’.

About 3 years ago, my son asked if his girl friend could move in with him. I said she could, but no smoking inside the building (she was a chain smoker), and also she couldn’t bring her two cats with her. Those were the only real requirements. Supposedly she offered to pay me $600 a month toward the rent, but that never happened. And we never entered into any lease agreement, etc. (If she did maintain that SHE was a valid ‘renter’, then at this point she owes me about $20,000.)

Her relationship with my son has been quite ‘rocky’ over the years, and at various times she has moved out, but then they would get back together. A few months ago my son told her to move out, but she wanted to stay and thought they would get back together regardless. But the arguments continued and also grew louder and more intense, to the point he started packing up some of her things and telling her over and over to move out.

Well, not to get into other matters, but the bottom line ended up being that his girlfriend had my son removed and charged him with assault, etc. (He will now have to go through that legal process.)

And she now maintains that SHE has a right to keep living in the apartment.

Technically, because they have been living together, she is considered a ‘family member’, and also since she has listed the apartment as her primary residence (and relevant or not, she has been receiving her mail here), the only way I can apparently get control of my own apartment back is to evict her, which means my son is not allowed to live in the apartment with her there, but she can stay there for 30 days.

Multiple questions:

At worst case scenario, I would sent the eviction notice, registered, etc., but since it would come to me, not be the one to sign for it, but take the slip from the post office and give it to her to pick up. My understanding is the 30 days starts with my postmark, not her receipt. So I would have to deal with letting her stay there, rent free, without her having any lease or agreement with me, for those 30 days. I would have to provide another place for my son to live during those days.

I have been providing electricity, or course, as well as water. But also, I have cable TV and high speed Internet in there that my son has been using, and presumably, his girl friend has been using too.

All the furniture, books, dvds, cds, TV, etc. in the apartment belongs to me or my son. The only things that belong to his (ex) girlfriend is her clothes.

So, depending on other answers, if she decides to remain in the apartment throughout the entire eviction process, can all the furniture and other items be removed that she doesn’t own?

Can the Cable TV and Internet access be turned off?

She has no keys and has never been given keys. But she has the combination for entry lock and the other doors remain unlocked unless she locks them from the inside.

Other issues? She still smokes like crazy and my entire building stinks of smoke and I haven’t been able to attract new tenants to offices, etc. She is smoking in the apartment. She also has her two cats in there as well.

Quite a mess, right?

So, just what rights do I have, as owner of the apartment/building?

But more importantly, what can I do to help prevent losing such control over my own building again? How can I realistically prevent my son from having another girlfriend in his life and then telling him that she can never live there with him, just a visit once in while?

Now, the ‘moot point’ is that hopefully she is moving out as I type this and will be gone for good by her own choice within the next day or two.

Would that mean she cannot come back at some point and demand to stay here? Would the moving out mean that I don’t have to start the eviction process? Should I have her sign some sort of ‘vacate on own volition’ document? I’m trying to keep things ‘nice’, so I haven’t sent any sort of eviction notice, even though I could have done so a few days ago. But I figured that if I did, then for spite, she might dig in her heels and remain for a month. However, if she is not gone by tomorrow, then I will, because she has told me she will be out by tonight. This ‘niceness’ on my part has already cost me 5 of those 30 days. It could be she is playing me just like she played my son, but I am optimistic that she will be gone and tomorrow I will find her and her clothes gone.

Oh, one more question- A couple years ago my son’s gf’s mother was moving and didn’t have room for their piano, which the daughter/gf wanted to keep. The piano is ‘stored’, sitting in my own living room at my own house, separate from the building. Also, it was mentioned that a bookcase that is currently in the apartment might not be taken, but left behind and just given.

I’m thinking that anything left in my possession needs to have a transfer of ownership to me…some sort of document that states that she understands that anything remaining in the apartment or my house after today becomes my property, etc., is signed by her and dated today. Good idea?

Thanks for any input!

hi i am manufacturing off brand perfumes ,is it okay to write a disclaimer that my design is a version of original brand X or Y or inspired by brand X or Y ,or simply say that my company is in no way connected to the registered trade mark of the original company.Thanks.

For a class project, I created a piece of software (a peer-review journal management system). It was a group project, and I had 4 group members, however they are not technical and did not contribute at all to the design or programming. Instead I had them do documents which described the project which had to be handed in.

I am trying to sell my work as a monthly fee to a professor, however he says his department head says I need to get my group members to sign a written release for their intellectual property.

Q: Must it actually be a signed paper release, or would an email suffice?

Q: Where can I find an example release document, or can I write one myself? If I write one myself, how should I word it and how detailed to I have to be?

Thanks!

I am designing an user interface for an software program. There are many other programs that provide similar functionality. There are many tables in my user interface and in some cases their contents and/or elements are similar to one or another program.

Particular example:

Table column names in existing program:
Project name
Bids
Avg bid
PMB (refers to private message board)(has additional new message indicator: i.e. “3 unread”)
Status
End date (displays the date bidding will be closed)
Actions (drop-down list of actions that can be taken)

Table column names in my design:
Project name
Bids (has additional new bid indicator: i.e. “3 new”)
Messages (has additional new message indicator: i.e. “3 new”)
Status
Time left (displays time left, i.e. 3 days)
Actions (the same drop-down list, although its style is different)

Notes:
1 the overall design and style of my user interface is different
2 the programming code is unique
3 the drop-down list of actions is not commonly used in other programs in that particular case

4 There are several filtering fields (you select a filter option from the drop-down list and the content of the table is filtered accordingly) above both tables and some of the filtering fields match
5 The content of the table is obvious – other similar programs also show that content, but in different graphical way (not in table, sightly different data, etc.)

Questions:
1 Is my design of the particular table infringing the copyright?
2 In general, how the structure and logics of the user interface (or of the website) is copyrighted in USA? What are the guidelines? Where could i read more about it?

Thanks in advance for answers.

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on User interface copyright

This seems to be a complicated fact pattern as follows: decades ago, a developer began to develop a large condominium and townhouse community development in State C under Trademark A and using Logo Design B. The development in question was comprised of myriad buildings and sub-divisions (“communities”), and homeowner’s associations. The developer also developed other similar communities in other states under Trademark A and Logo Design B (collectively “IP”). The developer was granted US registration at the PTO for Trademark A and Logo Design B. For further development of the community in State C, the developer then partnered with another developer to complete future phases, also under Trademark A and Logo Design B. Many of the subdivisions had names that used, in part, Trademark A, such as “Riverside at Trademark A”. At the entrance to the development is a large statue of Logo Design B. At some point, the development was completed, and the original developer had no further control over the community.

The clients are (1) the trustee of the common facilities shared by all the constituent communities, with the corporate name containing Trademark A; (2) a separate company owned by the trustee which manages all of the constituent communities and the operations of the trustee, with the company name containing Trademark A; (3) the individual homeowner’s associations whose names also contain Trademark A; and (4) the individual communities whose names contain Trademark A. It is believed that for all instances the clients are using Trademark A more as a trade name, rather than a trademark since it is not being used to identify goods/services offered “for sale” to the public. Prior to contact by the developer, the clients were not aware that the developer owned US trademark registrations for the IP.

For the community in State C, to our knowledge there exists no documents or agreements which speak to which party owns or operates the use of Trademark A or Logo Design B, or the manner in which this IP may be used. The IP in question has been used for decades for these communities and companies, and the developer has been silent in its enforcement. Furthermore, at one time the developer and the clients entered into an easement agreement related to the statue of Logo Design B, with no apparent reference to trademark rights. The second developer that was joined to complete the development promotes the development in State C, in conjunction with a development in another State, on its website under Trademark A and Logo Design B. We are unclear on whether the first developer licensed to the second developer rights to the IP, but it appears that the use by the second developer inured to the benefit of the first developer for the purposes of the first developer renewing its PTO registrations for Trademark A and Logo Design B. The developer’s PTO registrations might be subject to cancellation, in whole or in part, depending on the level of control, or lack thereof, it has exerted over the IP and quality control.

Now, after several decades of use of Trademark A and Logo Design B by the clients, and silence from the first developer, the first developer has sent a cease and desist letter to one of the individual communities alleging trademark infringement of Trademark A, and has sent to the trustee a proposed License Agreement demanding a fee for license of the IP and attempting to define the scope of control over operations and use of the IP. The clients want to be able to continue using the IP as it has in been in its development for the name of its trustee and managing company, community names, and homeowner’s association names, and further, are considering embarking on a branding campaign featuring the IP but needs to first define its rights to the IP. The clients also want to define their position should the parties enter into litigation over the IP.

In this fact pattern, who owns the rights to the IP in State C?
Even if the developer is considered the “rightful owner” as to developments in other States, has it lost its rights to the development and related companies in State C because of decades on non-control?
Can the developer now attempt to exert control over the IP and quality of the services that it failed to exercise prior?
What are the clients’ chances of success in continuing to use the IP without entering into the License Agreement? In defending a potential infringement suit? In bringing a declaratory judgment action to establish rights to the mark in State C?

THANK YOU!

hello,

i would like to clarify an issue that i had recently and would like to know how far can you call an act as spam and acuse a person of spamming.

few days ago, for the first time i have joined a contest for a t-shirt design and have been active for two days scoring other t-shirt designs and giving critique and comments. I have even started a blog topic asking people for their opinion. no one has replied. at a point where i have asked other designers to comment back and give me their opinion/critique leaving a link back to my design i was acused of spamming. it was a group of 2 or 3 members that have acused me of spamming being very rude and starting to harass me ever since even threaten that me and my designs won’t survive in this community and that they will keep scoring my designs to zero.

if my act is considered spam, is leaving link to my design and asking people for their support, scoring and commenting on ther forums like myspace, facebook etc. (which is even sujested) also spamming? in my opinion people on other online communities can be also annoyed with my promotion and advertising of my design and acuse me of spamming.

whether on contest website’s FAQ nor their TOUs is mentioned that posting links of your designs into someone elses design comments is considering spam. what is against their policies in their TOU is those general spams like posting inappropriate content, malicious software, videos, mp3, pornographic content and links to questionable and inappropriate websites.