Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 13 Exploiting Legal Loopholes
After deciding to join the video game industry, Ethan had already gone to the city library to look up information within the two months since he traveled through time, so he understood what lawyer Barbara meant by fifty-six years.

The American Copyright Act of 1909 stipulates that the copyright protection period for copyright holders is years from the date of creation, and can be extended once upon expiration, that is, years.

In other words, no matter how popular a work is, its author can only enjoy the benefits within fifty-six years from the date of the work's creation. After the fifty-six-year period, the work will become a public work and anyone can use it at will.

This fact is actually very cruel.

Because it is possible that the author is not dead yet, but others have already started dancing with his works.

Ethan was very confused about such laws.

Because in his memory, the copyright protection law should be seventy years after the author's death?
At the time, he just thought that the copyright protection law in America was changed at some point in time, but now...

That time seems to be just around the corner?

"Teacher Barbara, do you mean that the Copyright Protection Act of 1909 will be revised in the near future?" Evelyn was not a fool, and she directly asked the same question as Ethan.

"Yeah, the copyright protection law will be changed soon! You heard me right, I said soon!"

Ms. Barbara leaned back and placed her hands on the armrests of the sofa.

The soft feeling made her eyes narrow instinctively, and even her voice had a hint of pleasure.

"My dears! According to what I have heard, a company that makes a living from copyright is about to collapse."

"Because if they follow the current copyright protection law, in a few years, their cash cow will become public copyright. So, a few years ago, they sent lobbying companies to contact people from both parties. They urgently need to promote the amendment of copyright protection law, and they can spend a lot of money for this."

"Regarding this matter, I, my colleagues, and my teachers all think that this company will be successful, because this company has an extraordinary significance for America..."

Hearing this, Ethan burst out laughing.

"Teacher Barbara, it's Disney, right? Mickey?" he asked bluntly.

"Huh? It's Walt Disney!" Ethan's words made Barbara laugh too.

His two long eyebrows flew up, and he looked extremely funny. "Their Mickey Mouse will expire in 1984! So you just need to wait a while, and then you can perfectly enjoy the convenience brought by the new law!"

"why?"

Evelin was a little confused and said, “Teacher Barbara, if we register the copyright now, we should be able to enjoy the new legal protection after the new law is implemented, right?”

"No, that's not the case."

Before Barbara could answer, Ethan, who had the memory of his previous life, said, "Evelyn, I understand what Teacher Barbara means. Capitalists are greedy. No one knows how they will lobby, and no one knows whether they will harm others while protecting themselves."

"For example, is the copyright of Mickey Mouse in the name of a natural person or a legal person? When Disney was lobbying for this kind of question, it could have added a distinction between natural persons and legal persons in the copyright term! A natural person has a certain number of years, and a legal person has a certain number of years."

"Teacher Barbara's meaning is very simple. If we register copyright now, it is like using the green Franklin to gamble with the capitalists. Because we can wait for the new bill to come out and register with the law that suits us best. If the law for a natural person is better, then we can apply in the name of the natural person. Otherwise, we can set up a company."

That's right! Ethan suddenly remembered! In the previous life, in some version of the American Copyright Protection Act, the nature of the copyright holder was treated differently to varying degrees!
He no longer knows the specific laws, after all, he is not a lawyer, but the name Disney can prove everything!
Walt Disney died in 1966. According to the legal stipulation that the copyright expires seventy years after the author's death, Mickey's copyright should expire in 2036. But before Ethan traveled through time, he had heard that Mickey's copyright was about to expire again, and Disney was lobbying Congress to amend the copyright protection law. Since there is a time difference, there must be a problem!

If it weren't for lawyer Barbara's reminder, he might not have noticed this and it wouldn't have mattered.

But since Barbara said so...

Well, in the United States, wouldn't it be stupid if we didn't follow the copyright maniac on the issue of copyright protection?

At this point, Ethan paused.

He looked at the girl, and he could see surprise in her eyes.

So he smiled and said, "Evelyn, in this country, if you don't maximize your profits, you will never be able to participate in the business game."

“Who wants to do business?” Evelin, who had figured it out, muttered unconvinced.

“You have to understand it even if you are not in business, because it is the same for other things.”

Ethan smiled and said, "In America, when we do anything, the first thing we have to do is to do everything we can to protect our own interests."

"Even if you want to change the world, you have to be strong first."

“Okay! Okay! I was childish just now, okay?” Evelin didn’t want to argue and took the initiative to admit defeat.

Ms. Barbara, who witnessed all this, folded her arms and showed appreciation, "Ethan Jones, right? Are you interested in law? If you are interested, you can come to Stanford this year."

She waved her hand and said, "Although Stanford's fall application ended in March this year, that is only for ordinary people. You can choose any major and study for four years, and then come to law school directly to study law..."

"Honestly! I think your idea is great! Many people always think that they can save the world by passing the judicial examination! But they don't know that only by improving themselves first can they change everything!"

"Anyway, I think you'll have a bright future if you become a lawyer."

The sudden olive branch made Evelin open her eyes subconsciously.

The girl knew this was an opportunity.

Ethan politely declined the invitation.

"Oh, Teacher Barbara, thank you very much for your recognition. I will definitely come to you if I need anything."

"Now, I just want to know how to protect myself legally without registering the copyright."

"I believe that since you asked us not to register the copyright and mentioned the disadvantages of the damn expedited service, there must be other ways to get around it." "Right?"

Ethan smiled.

He is a very gentleman in his words and deeds.

"You really have talent, what a pity."

Barbara didn't feel sorry, she smiled and nodded, "Since you have heard what I mean, I will just say it directly. The current law does have loopholes, because things like arcade machines don't need to register copyrights..."

Under the guidance of Ms. Barbara, Ethan quickly understood how to exploit legal loopholes while using the law to protect himself.

That is to register a patent for the "Snake" arcade game machine.

On the surface, there is no patent for "Snake" to speak of. Its content is pieced together using existing technologies. If it were to be formally reviewed, it would most likely be rejected by the Patent Office.

However, there are actually two channels for patent application in America: one is a formal application and the other is a provisional application.

The former, a formal application, requires submission of a host of materials, such as formal claims, an affidavit or declaration, an IDS (Information Disclosure Statement), and the designation of inventors. The patent content cannot be modified after submission of the application. However, the latter, a provisional application, does not require submission of anything. The applicant only needs to go to the Patent Office to file an application, which is valid for one year.

Although a provisional application will not result in a patent certificate, this is not important, because all Ethan wants is to protect himself with the law before the new copyright protection law is introduced. Once the patent office stamps it, anyone who dares to copy the game "Snake" will be punished by law!

The difference between the Patent Office's provisional application and the Copyright Office's expedited service is that the Copyright Office's expedited service can only be applied for after an infringement occurs. In the process of confirming copyright, the injured party has no evidence to sue others.

But the provisional application of the Patent Office is different. Once an infringement occurs, the lawyer can take this thing to court with the plagiarist! Even if the court finally finds that this is not patent infringement but copyright infringement, it doesn’t matter, because the waiting stage of claiming has been saved!

When the court begins to accept infringement cases, they, as plaintiffs, can ask the court to ask the defendant to stop the infringement!
If Milova had done this at the time, Atari would definitely not have been able to develop!

When the court has already ordered the defendant to stop selling game consoles, Nolan Bushnell is still making a lot of money!
Ethan really admired this kind of thinking.

Use the bottom-line legal provisions to protect your own interests?
This guy is really a mage!

But at the same time, Ethan had a new problem.

He looked at Barbara in confusion and said, "Teacher Barbara, if you say so, then things are not right, because I remember that Milova has registered a patent for its home game console Odyssey. Why can't they sue like this?"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Ethan felt something was wrong.

After thinking for two seconds, he yelled again: "Oh! Fxxk!!! Nolan Bushnell made an arcade machine!!!"

"Yeah~~~"

Ethan's reaction made Ms. Barbara applaud and said happily: "Milova's patent is for home game consoles, and Atari's is for electronic arcades. The two products are different. How can you expect Milova to use the patent right of home game consoles to sue electronic arcades?"

"But the situation you are facing now is different. In the market, most businesses believe that home game consoles are money-losing products, so if others want to copy you, they can only copy electronic arcade machines. At that time, once you find someone infringing your rights, you can directly sue them."

This kind of magical confrontation really opened Ethan's eyes!

Although he had known before that it was not easy to make a lot of money, but now...

He felt that this matter could no longer be described as simple!
He benefited a lot from the fifty-minute conversation, and when the time was almost up, Ethan was very enthusiastic when he said goodbye to Barbara.

After thanking him repeatedly, he stood at the office door and watched the other party leave.

Looking at the figure jogging to class, Ethan had a question, "Does Teacher Barbara have a defense business?"

“Of course.” Evelin, who was standing next to him, smiled and nodded.

"How much does it cost?"

"I have asked this question before. Before she came to school, her consulting fee was fifty dollars per hour. After coming to school, she only answered questions from teachers, students and friends because she had to attend classes."

This fee standard made Ethan sigh, "Isn't this the real benefit of going to college?"

“So you regret it?” Evelin still wanted to try harder, “It’s not too late for you to regret, just catch up now.”

"Regret? Are you kidding?"

Ethan glanced at Evelin and said, “I, Ethan Jones, am determined! I’m never the kind of person who would regret anything!”

"Even if I can't meet Teacher Barbara today, I can find someone else!"

"You know, the earth will continue to rotate regardless of who is away from it!"

“Really?” Ethan’s tough words made Evelin smile playfully. “Does this mean that you won’t ask me for help in the future?”

At this point, she stretched out her arms and said, "Oh, this is such a good thing! Finally no one will bother me anymore!"

"?" Ethan was confused.

"!" He looked at Evelin blankly.

"I was wrong, sister!" He knelt down faster than a Gallic rooster.

Thanks to [book friend 20190611195126616] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins, and thank you all for your voting support.

Note: ① To study law in the United States, you need to have a bachelor's degree to apply. ② The provisional patent application described in the article is only used to obtain legal protection and is widely used in the United States because many people find it useful. The one-year provisional application allows countless entrepreneurs to test whether their products have potential in the market. If they have, they will formally apply for financing, and if not, they will give up.

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(End of this chapter)