Not necessarily. You can always represent yourself. Lawyers are not always needed and If I remember correctly, are not allowed to represent you in small claims court.
Steve.
Copyrighting an idea? Is this possible?
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Not necessarily. You can always represent yourself. Lawyers are not always needed and If I remember correctly, are not allowed to represent you in small claims court.
Steve.
This has been very interesting to read, thanks for the advice and help everybody !
You cannot be sued for taking an almost identical picture from the same place as someone else. Actual useage of the picture may be another matter if used commercially but for your own use and even for a competition... no.
Steve.
You're right: you can do almost anything if it's for personal use only.
In the USA, that only is the case if both parties are in the same state. So, for example, I am in Wisconsin and cannot file against some party in neighboring Illinois. Of course, I could go after them in Federal District Court. However, you have to be an attorney, rules of the court, and many years ago, I was told, the minimum out of pocket cost just to file was $5000 and the cost goes up from there.
Now, imagine the problems, if I needed to take action against someone in your country, provided its laws allow it. Might involve several law firms on my side to do this.
Then, regardless of any of this, the award, if I won, would probably be restricted to how much gross sales the other party enjoyed, which may be far less that the law suits.
Anyway, you get what you pay for and legal advise from non lawyers is usually worthless.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and would further state that there are a lot of incompetent lawyers, so choose carefully.
In the UK you can represent yourself. There is no insistance on hiring a lawyer and I don't think there should be either.
A lawyer is just someone hired to speak on your behalf who (hopefully) knows what he/she is doing. I don't think there is any situation in the UK where the use of one is mandatory though.
Disclaimer: I am also not a lawyer but I wish I was. I am quite interested in law and read a lot about it. I just wish I had this interest 25 years ago!
Steve.
That is fine but you cannot take action against someone in France in your UK court, can you? In the USA, each state court only adjudicate its state laws. I can go into that state and file suit but if the event did not occur in that state, no laws were broken.
For serious crimes extradition is used so the person is tried in the country in which the crime was carried out. That's nothing to do with choosing to use a lawyer (or not) though.
I think all cases have to be tried in the country where the alleged crime was committed.
I'm sure you could technically extradite someone and represent yourself but it's not likely (or advisable). If something is serious enough for an extradition order then the Crown Prosecution Service will have taken it on.
To an Englishman that sounds crazy! We have the same law over the whole country (and Wales). I'm not sure how the US keeps control of its laws as they vary from state to state.
Steve.
I just want to know what this photographic idea is! Is it an idea for a picture, or is it an idea for a process?
Even if you tell us exactly what it is, no 2 photographers will create it the same. And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it has been done before. Even the best ideas we come up with are rarely the first of their kind in history.
Besides, once you do this "photographic idea", it will be there for all to see and copy. But I guess you want to get it done first, eh.
Even if you tell us exactly what it is, no 2 photographers will create it the same. And to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if it has been done before. Even the best ideas we come up with are rarely the first of their kind in history.
Besides, once you do this "photographic idea", it will be there for all to see and copy. But I guess you want to get it done first, eh.
It's going to be a photographic series, but its going to be quite a big one hopefully which no one will go out of their way to do all of it tbh but maybe little parts of it could be reproduced. Which is why I started this thread really to see if it could be reproduced at all in any way. But obviously so
Indeed.
You don't extradite, say, a Frenchman infringing your copyright, in France, to France (obviously) nor to the U.K. where you, the holder of the copyright, are.
You take the case to a French court.
You have to follow any rule the French court sets. If they say you need a lawyer and can't represent yourself, that's the way it is. If they don't, then that's the way it is.
It's not up to you, nor the rules that apply in your country.
The same as in the U.K.
We have been over this before.
Crimes? :eek:
We are talking Civil litigation. You didn't answer my question, can you take someone to court in England that lives in France, and the transaction was done vial mail? :confused: No crime, they just owe you some money!
Probably not as a breach of contract is not a criminal offence (in England, not sure about France).
The type of dealings most of us have internationally are usually of very low monetary value (ebay, etc.) and would not be worth bothering with.
Steve.
I'm pretty sure that different states within America would work together to sentance the people commiting crime, the quesiton is what would it be between America and Mexico? Some countries won't use extradition to the UK for example to have someone sentanced. But I guess these are countries that don't meet "eye to eye" with the country asking for the extradition.
The extradition agreement between the US and the UK is very one sided in favour of the US.
The US only has to allege a crime to get extradition whereas the UK has to provide evidence of reasonable guilt.
Anyway.... Back to the important stuff..... Get your idea into action and show us what you had in mind! We promise not to take you to court representing ourselves in a different country even if one of us has already allegedly had the same idea!!!!
Steve.
The US only has to allege a crime to get extradition whereas the UK has to provide evidence of reasonable guilt.
Anyway.... Back to the important stuff..... Get your idea into action and show us what you had in mind! We promise not to take you to court representing ourselves in a different country even if one of us has already allegedly had the same idea!!!!
Steve.
I will, going to start to get my idea into photographs as soon as I get some new film sent to me. Thanks again for all the help everyone.
Lewis
Lewis
MattKing
Moderator
No crimes are involved - this is a civil issue.
Different jurisdictions have rules that permit enforcement of copyright in other jurisdictions.
The rules about where you have to sue to enforce your copyright are really, really complex when 2 or more jurisdictions are involved. To sue in that case, you really need a lawyer who is a specialist.
Some small claims courts limit the types of actions one can initiate. As an example, our BC Small Claims Act prohibits using the court for an action in libel.
Some legislation assigns disputes of certain types to certain courts. Here in Canada, for instance, there are certain cases that can only be pursued in our Federal Court. You would have to check the legislation in the UK to determine if copyright cases can only be heard in, for example, the Court of Queen's Bench (if that is still current).
If you are interested, here is a link to the Canadian Copyright legislation. It is only 123 pages long, and you get two languages for your money
.
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/C/C-42.pdf
Different jurisdictions have rules that permit enforcement of copyright in other jurisdictions.
The rules about where you have to sue to enforce your copyright are really, really complex when 2 or more jurisdictions are involved. To sue in that case, you really need a lawyer who is a specialist.
Some small claims courts limit the types of actions one can initiate. As an example, our BC Small Claims Act prohibits using the court for an action in libel.
Some legislation assigns disputes of certain types to certain courts. Here in Canada, for instance, there are certain cases that can only be pursued in our Federal Court. You would have to check the legislation in the UK to determine if copyright cases can only be heard in, for example, the Court of Queen's Bench (if that is still current).
If you are interested, here is a link to the Canadian Copyright legislation. It is only 123 pages long, and you get two languages for your money
.http://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/C/C-42.pdf
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If you are interested, here is a link to the Canadian Copyright legislation. It is only 123 pages long, and you get two languages for your money
I was interested but there is no link!
Early English law was written in three languages - English, French and Latin.... so we win!
Steve.
MattKing
Moderator
Steve:
There is a link now (see above).
As to language, what law was written in Latin?
All I have ever seen was either in English or Norman French.
Like he says, see link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_lens
and: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/13/1052591785954.html
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I don't expect any actual laws or acts are written in Latin but many words and phrases remain in Latin from mediaeval law.
Dead Link Removed
I'm sure you use these too.
Steve.
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You have the same laws everywhere? If London (the city, not the Capitol) passes a law about allowable commercial signage, it applies to the whole country? That must get interesting when the city council of some tiny place passes laws.
I think you may be confusing laws with bye-laws. Bye-laws are local rules with legal force subject to government approval, but these would not cover topics that would be dealt with by civil or criminal law, which is country wide. London may make bye-laws concerning parking and transport and the like, but could not pass laws that would conflict with national laws concerning, say, the Design Patent and Copyright Acts. Cities in the UK are not legally autonomous entities in the way States are. Within Great Britain, only Scotland has its own legal system, which is why Steve was careful to mention England (implicitly) and Wales.
Also if a city or town passes a by-law which is in conflict with national law then the by-law would be invalid.
Steve.
Steve.
But that's another issue. The fact is that in the U.K. too, laws differ. So the answer to your question about how that works in the States is just about the same as to how it works in the U.K.
It's also how it works when crossing other national borders, from the U.K. to France, for instance. You can try to bring someone to court in the country he did the thing in you want to try him for. If that fails, and the country he resides in has a similar law, you can report the thing and bring him to court there.
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