The first successful attempt to establish international rights to intellectual property was the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which was first adopted in 1886 and was modified several times. The Convention is presently administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Although U.S. copyright law was significantly different from that established by the Berne Convention, resulting in the United States' refusal to accept the Convention for several years, the United States changed its copyright laws quite significantly in the 1970s and subsequently signed the Convention. A major criticism of the Berne Convention was its lack of enforcement mechanisms.
Any advertising which is misleading in any material respect is considered false advertising. An advertisement is considered misleading if it fails to disclose facts that are important in light of what is stated in the advertisement or facts that are relevant in the light of the customary use of the product. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the statutory power to cancel trademarks it finds constitute false advertising.
Under the 1976 Copyright Act as amended, a work is protected by copyright from the time it is created in a fixed form. The copyright immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Generally, the person who created a work is the author of that work but there is an exception to that rule. Where a work is "made for hire," the employer, not the employee, is considered the author.
The term ''trade name'' means any name used by a person to identify his or her business or vocation. ''Trade name'' refers mainly to the corporate, partnership, or other name of a business. The business may, in turn, market goods or services under one or more trademarks or service marks.
Copyright protection in the United States is automatic upon the fixation of an original work of authorship. The use of the copyright notice and the registration of a work are referred to as formalities, which are the procedural requirements for securing and maintaining full copyright protection, and were formerly requirements for copyright protection. Some of the most sweeping changes under the 1976 Copyright Act involve copyright formalities.
Business Organizations
