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This is an important question when you’re drawing from someone else’s work to create your own material. What is permissible, and what would be considered infringement? Copyright only protects creative expression. It does not protect facts or ideas, only the way those...

Whenever I meet with a new prospective client, I give them the opportunity to ask questions. A very common question is “Do I need a trust?” Rather than give the classic lawyer answer (“It depends”), I tell them that most people who create a trust do so for one of two...

I’ve had several occasions now where a person asked me about one of these topics, but the longer the person talked, the clearer it was that they really meant the other. It’s happened often enough that I felt an article was in order. Plagiarism is what happens when you...

I love stories. In my business, I especially love stories that I can use in my presentations to illustrate the importance of the things I’m talking about. And what better stories to use than stories involving celebrity estates? Some of the stories I use are a bit...

Choosing a trademark can be a tricky business – especially if you want to call your business something other than your own name. Here are a few pointers to get you started: More creativity is better. Try to choose a name (or logo, or slogan) that is as original and...

This is a question that comes up regularly. When a loved one has a disability, making sure they’re taken care of is even more critical than usual. In most cases, the special needs trust is used to make sure a disabled person does not lose government benefits, such as...

I recently sat on a panel at a marketing event, where I was told that the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was a topic of some interest to the audience. I was assured that I wouldn’t need to know the technical details, and the panel would just give a broad...

It’s a simple question, one that a lot of people ask. Unfortunately the answer is not quite so simple. The reason copyright duration can be complex (and confusing) is because different rules apply depending on when the creative work was published (or created) and who...

This may be a controversial topic for California, but I have a client who’s interested in the answer, and I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and write about what I found. (Yes, I did see the opportunity for a pun there, but I chose to take the higher ground)...