Week 10 EOC: Lawyer Jokes

Q: What's the difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer?
A: A bad lawyer makes your case drag on for years. A good lawyer makes it last even longer.

Q: How many lawyer jokes are there?
A: Only three. The rest are true stories.

http://www.iciclesoftware.com/LawJokes/IcicleLawJokes.html


An attorney passed on and found himself in Heaven, but not at all happy with his accommodations. He complained to St. Peter, who told him that his only recourse was to appeal his assignment. The attorney immediately advised that he intended to appeal, but was then told that he would be waiting at least three years before his appeal could be heard. The attorney protested that a three-year wait was unconscionable, but his words fell on deaf ears. The lawyer was then approached by the devil, who told him that he would be able to arrange an appeal to be heard in a few days, if the attorney was willing to change venue to Hell. When the attorney asked why appeals could be heard so much sooner in Hell, he was told, "We have all of the judges."

As Mr. Smith was on his death bed, he attempted to formulate a plan that would allow him to take at least some of his considerable wealth with him. He called for the three men he trusted most - his lawyer, his doctor, and his clergyman. He told them, "I'm going to give you each $30,000 in cash before I die. At my funeral, I want you to place the money in my coffin so that I can try to take it with me." All three agreed to do this and were given the money. At the funeral, each approached the coffin in turn and placed an envelope inside. While riding in the limousine to the cemetery, the clergyman said "I have to confess something to you fellows. Brother Smith was a good churchman all his life, and I know he would have wanted me to do this. The church needed a new baptistery very badly, and I took $10,000 of the money he gave me and bought one. I only put $20,000 in the coffin." The physician then said, "Well, since we're confiding in one another, I might as well tell you that I didn't put the full $30,000 in the coffin either. Smith had a disease that could have been diagnosed sooner if I had this very new machine, but the machine cost $20,000 and I couldn't afford it then. I used $20,000 of the money to buy the machine so that I might be able to save another patient. I know that Smith would have wanted me to do that." The lawyer then said, "I'm ashamed of both of you. When I put my envelope into that coffin, it held my personal check for the full $30,000."


http://www.stromer.com/jokes/185jokes.html

Week 9 EOC: Lettters of permissions

 The letters i have chosen are the following:

Getting Permission to Use Artwork

Lyric Permission Letter Agreement

Musician Assignment Agreement

Work-Made-for-Hire Agreement

All four pertain to my field and will help me in the future.

Getting permission to use artwork will help me in a way, when the bands i work with want to create the insert for their band album etc... we can use artwork in the album and create an agreement on how to do so. Also i can send out the form so i'll always have back up artwork for my artists and will know a set price.

Lyric Permission Letter Agreement will help me in a way that when the artist or band that i work with wants to remake or maybe future an artist or lyricist that they want to work with we can get permission and sort out an agreement with that particular lyricist or artist.

Musician assignment agreement with help me when i work with artists and bands so that when i need a particular sound for my catalog or something created by an artist i can use that sound as my own after it is created.

Work-Made-For-Hire Agreement will help me in my studio work so i dont have my sound engineers and other people in the studio who will be working under me claiming the work as their own, when  i will be paying them hourly it is their job and should be under my name since i will be the owner of the studio etc...


all the letters of permission will help me in the previous ways throughout my life so it will be of help and use to learn them now.

Week 8 BOC: Progress on final project

I have made contact with a lawyer, she is not an intellectual property lawyer but she is a lawyer. That question got away from me when we were talking on the phone this week. We set up a meeting date for next week for lunch. I'm still working on the ten questions, i want to make sure they are good and i also want to make sure that i do not appear to be wasting her time. So i'm putting extra effort into making sure they are something pertaining to my field and that i will be using (maybe) later on in my career.

Throughout the class i've had really no issues with the blog, there has been a week where i have been late but mostly i try to get them done on time. I enjoy using blogger. Twitter on the other hand i've had numerous technical difficulties with. One week every post i tried to make from my phone would say they had been posted but would not go through. Other weeks sometimes twitter would just be down and would not let me log in. I've always done extra tweets to make up for the days i have missed. I have been trying to keep up to date on the twitter. It's been a bit difficult for me to do so. It's a bit sad for me to say that one of the easiest parts of the class is the thing i'm having most difficulty with but its true, its keeping up on the tweets. I don't even update my facebook daily and this is the first time i've ever used twitter but i do see the relevance of using it in today's market. It is keeping you up to date in the market place, and in the consumers minds. Also it keeps you out there and makes you look knowledgeable in the professional field.

Other then that i'm doing great in the class (i hope) and i've enjoyed it. I'm really excited about the final and interviewing my lawyer it should be fun. And she's an enjoyable person to interview anyways.

Week 7 EOC: Lawyers.

My own personal resources that i have found and already contacted for my lawyer is :

Patricia Marr

 i am not sure her actual particular field as a lawyer but i know she attended over 7 years of college and still takes classes on the side at times. and i know she is a lawyer and a legal professional.

also an additional lawyer i know but have not contacted is:

Professor Todd Uglow, He teaches here at the art institute and i believe he is an IP lawyer.

Other intellectual property law offices:

King and chung law offices:

Las Vegas
1050 Indigo Drive
Suite 200
Las Vegas, NV 89145

• 702-260-9500
• 702-260-9434

Found on linkedin and superlawyers.com in the las vegas area:

Mary J. Drury

Marquis Aurbach Coffing
10001 Park Run Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89145

Alexis Mathis

Attorney at Law
(702) 383-3330
3225 McLeod Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89121-2257

W. West Allen

Lewis and Roca LLP

T: 702-949-8200 F: 702-949-8398
Visit: www.lrlaw.com

3993 Howard Hughes Pkwy, Suite 600
Las Vegas, NV 89169

Jodi Donetta Lowry

Gibson Lowry Burris LLP

T: 702-541-7888 F: 702-541-7899
Visit: www.gibsonlowry.com

 7201 Lake Mead Blvd, Suite 503
Las Vegas, NV 89128

Laraine M.I. Burrell

Greenberg Traurig, LLP
T: 702-792-3773 F: 702-792-9002 
3773 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 400N
Las Vegas, NV 89169

David R. Koch

T: 702-318-5040 F: 702-318-5039 

Koch & Scow LLC
11500 S. Eastern Avenue, Suite 210
Henderson, NV 89052

Edward J. Quirk

T: 702-792-3773 F: 702-792-9002
Visit: www.gtlaw.com

 Greenberg Traurig, LLP
3773 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 400N
Las Vegas, NV 89169

Week 6 EOC: Illicit

The movie illicit is about the black market and dealing with several forms of illegal activity, and how they are all intertwined. Illicit even brought to light that almost every industry is affected by the black market, and how just buying knock offs of bags like Gucci, Prada, or Louis Vuitton. It even states how pirating (which affects me as an audio industry professional) promotes the black market which in turn promotes human trafficking and drug wars. The war against music pirating is something that will be hard to control. There is pro's and con's to pirating but there are so many more con's than there are pro's. Pirating affects not only me as an audio producer, it affects the music labels selling the CD's, the artists who created the music, and also the people working at the places of employment that distribute these CD's. It affects our economy because the lack of revenue at the places of distribution (I.E. Wal-Mart, F.Y.E., Sam Goody etc...) cause employers to cut hours or even employees thus putting people out of a job. Pirating music does not support the music industry what so ever it only hinders it. A huge example is the music franchise H.M.V. music outlets closed down. They are the equivalent to the United States F.Y.E. music outlets. Also pirating affects the quality of music being released. Artists are finding it harder and harder to survive, at one point the artist made revenue off of CD sales now it is left up to concerts and tours to pay their way. Bigger and well known artist are even feeling the heat. The only way to fix the problem of music pirating is to create awareness. We need to show people that there is a cause and affect pattern to downloading a song. Do not be hypocrites, and only support the cause and then go download music ourselves. No every person and every song makes a difference. Every knock off bag walked by and not bought makes a difference. You will no longer be supporting drug cartels; instead you will be supporting the people who spent their time and creativity into making those original products. You will get the true quality and the feeling of satisfaction of knowing you did the right thing, of knowing that you did support the artist behind that record or bag. Every person counts. Make the change. I know i will be from this day forward.

Week 5 EOC: Patent Troll

Corporation's are scrambling to protect their products. Patent trolls are out there and all they want is to make money off of claims that i believe they should have no right to file.
a "patent troll is a disparaging term for someone who sues for patent infringement" - NOLO patent copyright and trademark law. When companies have to be afraid of loosing billions to members of the general public its a frightening affair. Members of the general public who have no interest in licensing and selling the invention should not have any right to claims about the products patents. "in other words the patent troll is in the business of suing companies not in the business of making or selling anything. A friendlier term for the practices is patent assertion company." NOLO patent copyright and trademark law. I don't believe that members of the general public assume themselves a company let alone to have any interest in selling these items. As the article states most companies do not keep up to date on their patents and should just reinvent a way to mark the patents in such a manner that this problem can be avoided. I mean i understand that yes this is a good way to keep corporations in check, and it also helps the inventors keep their cash flow rolling, but in a way this is a not a way to actually solve the problem it just creates a panic. I believe they should create a new way to keep patent laws in check without the general public being able to make money by catching corporations; we are not the government thus we should not enforce the law.  Even the courts rules themselves that not every patent out of date warrants a case " the supreme court determined that courts should not automatically issue an injunction based on a finding of patent infringement." - NOLO patent copyright and trademark law. So even the courts themselves have ruled in the favor of the corporations but i truly don't believe that anything will change until a separate title or entity is created to check these patents instead of just allowing the general public to do so.

Week 3 EOC: Jeopardy questions

$100: Q,  When an item or substance is found to exist in a natural state (i.e. minerals, etc.) they are not eligible for what?
A, what is patent protection?
$200: Q, When an invention has a specific application, but an inventor finds a completely different application, it falls under what category?
A, what is new use?
$100: Q, When an idea, design, or expression doesn’t belong to anyone under the patent law it is said to exist in what?
A, What is The Public Domain?

Week 4 EOC: Jeopardy

In class last thursday we played the game show jeopardy. I liked it and i believed it was fun. I think pretty much everyone liked it and i really do believe it helped me personally on learning all the law definitions. The answer question format of the game really just makes you think outside the box compared to just memorizing the definition in the book. Seeing the definition of an answer in a question puts not only the creators mind to the test but also the person whos answering the questions mind to the test; It also puts the definition into everyday form. Meaning your brain learns the definition faster by playing it in a game rather than other typical memorization methods.

I liked the idea of the runner. it made the game a lot more competitive and fun. it also made the team closer, the whole class actually closer. The game forced us all to learn each others names, and learn about each other in general. The game also helped our finding skills along with realizing there is a time limit on everything.

The only thing i didnt like about the game was the final jeopardy question i think it was a smart way to do it, but at the same time i believe that the void at the end of the game was faulty. Almost three teams had the answer even if only one it should have still been played. But thats just my opinion, and my team would have gotten around `12 extra points without the void.

all in all i really liked the jeopardy game i think it was a great learning tool and a fun one too at that.

Week 2 EOC: Erin Brockovich

In the case of PG&E vs. the people of the town of Hinkley 333 million was awarded. It was divided amongst the people after the initial 40% cut was taken out for the lawyers. The 40% amounted to a little over 133 million dollars. The cut for each person who was affected in this case was 300,000 dollars apiece. Erin Brockovich herself earned a 2 million dollar bonus for working the case.

I believe the victims weren’t all awarded correctly, because unlike Ms. Brockovich, they didn’t know how to go about extorting the law. She used her assets to extort documents; she extorted her boss with the same documents in order to get her job back. She then used the case in order to get a raise from her boss when she would gain new evidence in the case.

There is a difference though between Erin Brockovich extorting the law, and a lawyer extorting the law.
Erin Brockovich is just your run of the mill person who was tired of justice not prevailing. She really felt the need of the people and she wanted to make a difference. A lawyer on the other hand tends to be jaded to justice. They are blind to right, and wrong, and instead see the case as either settling, or winning. There is no in-between and when they do lose a case it costs them; because the money when the case is lost comes out of their pockets. So when a person has a case that is as big as the case Erin Brockovich's law firm took on, it is a bit scary. The investment the law firm put in was huge due to the fact that they were going against a company as big as PG&E. The odds of winning were not in their favor. But what makes this story such a good one is that justice did prevail. People were awarded, maybe not what they all deserved, but they were still awarded which is better than nothing.

The case was one of big companies bullying everyday people. The sad part is because of lawyers having to put a personal investment into every case, justice does not always win out. The law was taken to its full extent here in this case, but only because the lawyers were not held back by numbers. It goes to show you the law can only do so much unless you do know how to extort it. Which i do not believe is a bad thing. I believe it shows determination for justice prevailing in which it did in this case.

All numerical amounts and facts in this blog are from:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/faq

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

As a professional in the audio industry, I have always believed in following your dreams no matter how big or small they may be.  I grew up in a musical family. I toured with them as a child and growing up. We were never rich, always scraping by to make it, but that is what makes life worth living: family, love, and the race. The audio industry, just like any other industry is a that race, a challenge in and of itself to stand out and make it. In order to rise up to the challenge you need to have the love of audio, people to fall back on, and the desire to make it no matter what. I believe i have that something; that will power to make a difference and the desire. Since i have lived around musicians music was always seen as genetic thing; something that comes naturally. I know how to play 7 different instruments yet even with those its not really the instrument that gets to me, i love the audio portion of it. Every little intricate detail that makes up each tone and sound as a whole. The emotion each sound vibration causes the listener in their heart inspires me to want to create that experience.  To create the emotion that causes the listener to make a change, to make a difference and in turn that will be me making a difference in their life and will hopefully create a ripple effect in the world as we know it. To make that ripple into something bigger is my goal.