Week 8 EOC: Bratz Brawl

After reading up on the whole Bratz doll and Mattel case, my opinion on it is that the whole thing is pretty ridiculous. “The Bratz dolls were designed by a former Mattel employee while he was still working on Barbie dolls for Mattel. So Mattel had claimed that it owned what this employee drew up. But the employee insisted he was drawing the Bratz dolls on nights and weekends so Mattel didn't own them. The jury here agreed with the designer that Mattel has no claim to the Bratz dolls.”(link) Although Carter Bryant was working for Mattel, he was working on the design for The Bratz dolls on the side. It’s not like he stole ideas from Mattel or Barbie and tried to sell it to another company. He testified that he came up with the idea back in 1998, when he was on a break from working at Mattel. “In court, MGA attorneys accused Mattel of trying to crush Bratz because the doll line was giving the venerable Barbie doll a run for her money, while Mattel accused MGA of stealing its idea for Bratz and then working to cover up any hint the concept wasn't theirs.”(link) The case has been an ongoing trial for nine years but I feel that Mattel filed for lawsuit for all the wrong reasons, and it turned out that Mattel was in the wrong because they were sending spies to MGA and they actually stole ideas from MGA. “The jury in the retrial said Mattel had not proved its claims of copyright infringement and instead found that the company had stolen trade secrets from MGA and owed it $88.5 million. That was seen as a paltry amount for a case that analysts estimated had cost each side hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees alone.” (link)

Week 8 EOC: Questions!

Does a creative commons license mean that I can use the photograph any way I want, for free?



What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?



What happens when a copyrighted photo is used without permission?



What are the legalities of accepting payments as a freelance photographer?



If an illustration of one of my photographs is made and used commercially or editorially, is it an infringement of my copyright?



What kinds of things do I need to do if I’m going to set up a business entity for my photography?

Is it legal to take pictures of buildings?



If you are shooting a movie/photo (non-profit or profit) with a willing person, should you get a contract signed from him/her?



Is there any situation where it is legal to post a photo taken in private property without permission?



What are the appropriate laws regarding taking candid or unsolicited shots of people in public places?

Week 7 EOC: Lawyers

1) Name: Keith E. Gregory & Associates    
    Address: 631 S 10th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
    Number: (702) 979-4730


2) Name: Craig P Kenny & Associates
    Address: 501 S 8th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101 
    Number: (702) 380-2800


3) Name: Crystal Eller Attorney at Law
    Address: 8625 W Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89117
    Number: (702) 997-8770


4) Name: Gallo Law Office 
    Address: 818 S Casino Center Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89101
    Number: (702) 509-9820

5) Name: Law Offices of Mandy McKellar     
    Address: 1404 S Jones Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146
    Number: (702) 816-5200

6) Name: Richard Harris Law Firm     
    Address: 801 S 4th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
    Number: (702) 444-4444

7) Name: Law Office of Paul W. VanDerwerk    
    Address: 522 S 7th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
    Number: (888) 283-2173

8) Name: Michael J. Warhola     
    Address: 625 S 6th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
    Number: (702) 678-6699


9) Name: Las Vegas Law Offices of Snell & Wilmer
    Address: 3883 Howard Hughes Parkway    
    Suite 1100, Las Vegas, NV 89169-5958
    Number: (702) 784.5200


10) Name: Flangas McMillan Law Group
      Address: 3275 South Jones Blvd., Suite 105
      Las Vegas, NV 89146      
      Number: (702) 307-9500

Week 6 EOC: Supreme Court Prayer

This past Wednesday, the Supreme Court was debating over controversial issues about religion and prayer. This issue divided the court because clearly, religion is a very diverse and touchy subject. “The justices have struggled for decades to come up with a coherent set of rules for prayers conducted at government forums. Past decisions have allowed public bodies, including Congress, state legislatures and city councils, to open their meetings with prayers, but the justices have also ruled that public officials may not take actions that appear to endorse a specific set of religious beliefs.” link

The debate is about whether there should be prayer recited before meetings of the Town Board in Greece, N.Y. Two town residents, Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, sued the town of Greece because they were required to sit through Christian prayer in order to attend meetings. The prayer was offered exclusively by Christians and this had been going on since 1999.

"It's very divisive when you bring government into religion," Stephens told CNN from her home. "I don't believe in God, and Susan is Jewish, so to hear these ministers talk about Jesus and even have some of them who personally question our motives, it's just not appropriate." link

In my opinion, I don’t think that it is fair to pick one religion and make everyone sit through a prayer when they aren't even a part of that religion. People need to remember that not everyone in America is Christian.

Today in Class, we experienced only a fraction of what the people that are involved in this case are dealing with and it was uncomfortable for not only myself but for a lot of the other students as well. I think it is disrespectful to others who aren't Christian; therefore everyone should just keep their religions to themselves and practice in their own home or on their own time, where they won’t have to force it upon others. Either they should take all religions into account or none at all.

“Greece is being backed by the Obama administration and many social and religious conservative groups in arguing that the court settled this issue 30 years ago when it held that an opening prayer is part of the nation's fabric and not a violation of the First Amendment. Some of those groups want the court to go further and get rid of legal rules that tend to rein in religious expression in the public sphere.” link

Week 5 EOC: Challenges with modern internet

1. Identity theft

2. Catfishing

3. Privacy 

These are some of the legal challenges that we might face in this modern age where we are surrounded by technology and social media. With how advance things have come to be, it is very easy to face these problems and anyone can face them, especially if they aren't cautious. 


I can imagine that identity theft would be an issue that people would face if they are involved with any kind of social media website. As long as you have personal information and pictures on your website, anyone can easily steal that information and pose as you. They can post things on behalf of you and pretend to be you, which can really make a mess of things, and possibly cause a lot of trouble. “Kathleen Winn, director of the Community Outreach & Education Division in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, said software that reveals a person’s location and tagging others in photos can also put friends and family at risk for identity theft. Winn recommended that people be discreet about social-media postings and to not friend strangers.” (source) This is why people on social media sites need to be very careful about their privacy setting and what they post. Some people chose not to participate in social media because of this reason.

Catfishing is another major issue with the modern internet and it has become more recognized within the recent years. Catfishing is also pretending to be someone else but the term is used for people who pretend to be someone else while trying to find “romance” online. Often times, sexual predators catfish, in order to talk to young girls or boys online. This is where it becomes an issue because these young kids who are surrounded by technology think it is okay to talk to strangers online and they think that they might be talking to someone their age but in real life they are being targeted by sexual predators. “Chris Duque, a former Police Detective who has been studying online predators for over thirty years, has created false personas to lure these types of suspects."It's easy to be duped online, very easy," Duque said. "The thing with the Internet is your five senses are somewhat limited and what you see online may not be what you're really going to get."(source)

“When it comes to technology, courts and legal scholars can run into some thorny issues. For instance, when does someone have a right to film you and put those images online? And what can you do about it once those images are up there?” (source) The question that is asked here leads to a good point. With what the technology and social media world has come to, it is difficult to protect your privacy. If you’re on websites like face book, you’re feeding people information about yourself and people can use that against you and there is no sense of privacy left. Even if you’re not on Facebook, people can take pictures and videos of you and post them all over Facebook and there is really not much that you can do about it.