The blog
Copyright, trademarks and licensing in plain language. Every article names the law or case it relies on.
Copyright starts the moment you save the file
In 181 countries you own the copyright in your work the second it is fixed. Registration matters for a different reason: it decides what you can recover in court.
What a valid DMCA notice contains
A takedown notice missing one of six elements can be ignored by the host. Here are the six, with wording that works.
Fair use, factor by factor
US courts weigh four factors, and none of them decides a case alone. The 2023 Warhol ruling changed how the first one reads.
Your logo is two kinds of property
Copyright protects the drawing. A trademark protects what the drawing tells customers. They last for different periods and fail in different ways.
What entered the public domain in 2026
On 1 January, US copyright expired for works published in 1930. In life-plus-70 countries, work by authors who died in 1955 became free.
Licensing your work without giving it away
An exclusive licence needs a signed writing. A non-exclusive one can be a sentence in an email. The difference decides who can sue.
Why we publish a rights register
One public page per company: legal entity, trademark numbers, copyright registrations and the person who handles notices.
Ahmad
Ahmad