These guidelines were written to help you better understand Intellectual Property laws as they relate to your use of content through CornholeSupplies.com. The information contained on this page is for informative purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. For specific advice regarding your use of content through CornholeSupplies.com, please consult an attorney.

Copyright

What is a Copyright?
A copyright protects original work of authorship such as a picture, drawing, graphics, software program, written work, sculpture, song, or photograph. Copyright law prevents you from copying another's copyrighted work for any purpose; making things based on the copyrighted work; distributing copies of the copyrighted work; publicly performing the copyrighted work; displaying the copyrighted work; and in the case of sound recordings, transmitting the recording over the internet or in another media. In a nutshell, copyright law protects the expression of one's idea.

How long does copyright protection last?
The term of a copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after Jan. 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors. In general works created before 1922 are in the public domain. However, if a change has been made to a work taken from the public domain, the new work may be copyrightable and protected. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (Title 17 of the United States Code).

Trademark

What is a Trademark?
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or other device that identifies the goods or services of a given person or company and distinguishes them from the goods or services of other persons or companies. Trademark law prevents you from using another's trademark (such as the name of a musical group or artist) on your merchandise, because such use will cause consumers to believe that the trademark owner has made, approved of, or endorsed your merchandise. In short, a trademark is someone's name/brand.

What is a Service Mark?
Any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify and distinguish their services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the services. For instance, "Our quality is in the bag" is a Service Mark of CornholeSupplies.com.

What can be trademarked?
Word(s), word(s) plus design, trade dress, packaging, sound, slogans, smell, service mark, geographic marks, collective marks, certification marks, and family marks.

What is Trade Dress?
Trade dress can function as a trademark and is used to identify the goods of a party in the marketplace. For instance, trade dress can be the shape of a Coca Cola bottle, the yellow color of Kodak film, and the shape of a classic Ferrari.

What are Trademark rights?
An owner of a trademark/service mark has the right to use that trademark/service mark and to prevent others from benefiting from the trademark/service mark's good reputation and recognition in the marketplace.

What is the difference between a Trademark and a Registered Trademark?
The ® symbol represents that a trademark is actually registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The ® symbol may only be used in association with a trademark that is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If the trademark/service mark is followed by a TM or SM symbol the goods/services provider is using the mark as a trademark, although the mark may not be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Right of Publicity

What is Right of Publicity?
The Right of Publicity makes it unlawful to use another's identity for commercial advantage without permission. A person's "identity" includes, for example, his look, voice, name, nickname, professional name, and other distinctive characteristics. For example, the Right of Publicity prohibits you using the picture of a celebrity without authorization on your merchandise.

Right of Privacy

What is Right of Privacy?
Generally, the right of privacy protects the intrusion into one's private affairs, disclosure of one's embarrassing private facts, and publicly placing one in a false light in the public eye.

Examples of Prohibited Content

• NO UNOFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
• NO use of names, logos, pictures or other intellectual property of musical groups or musical artists. For example, you cannot make Britney Spears bean bags simply because you run a fan-based Britney Spears website or just because you downloaded her image from an internet website. You also cannot modify the name or other intellectual property of a musical group and avoid infringement, (e.g., using Metalika instead of Metallica).
• NO use of names, logos, pictures, or other intellectual property of sports teams, colleges/universities, clubs, or organizations such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Harvard University, or The Boy Scouts. Again, modifications may not avoid infringement.
• NO photos, logos, caricatures, or other artwork depicting celebrities, such as Michael Jackson or Madonna, or other third parties. Just because you take a photograph of a celebrity does not give you the right to use that photograph on merchandise, even if you digitally manipulate the photograph.
• NO use of trademarks, names, or logos of companies. For example, you cannot use the name of a company such as Nike, a company logo such as the Nike "swoosh" trademark, or brand name such as Coca Cola, or a modified version of a trademark, (e.g., "Just Did It").
• NO pictures or photographs of products (such as toys). Even if you own a product, trademark laws may still prohibit you from selling merchandise that features pictures of it. For example, you cannot take a picture of your Barbie and sell merchandise with that picture.