What Is a Copyright

This monograph covers what a copyright is, what can be copyrighted, ownership of copyright, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, duration of a copyright, statutory formalities of copyright, infringement, fair use, remedies, and criminal offenses.

Dave Rein, following a career litigating complex commercial and intellectual property cases at one Can you trust your perceptions?
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You chose this... a reminder of
the forces at work in your world.
If you no longer wish to peer
through the looking glass, you can
return to blissful ignorancel IP), a boutique intellectual property law firm.  There, he counsels businesses (for-profit and nonprofits), and creative individuals throughout the country on how to obtain, license, and protect their intellectual property. 

He has extensive experience in litigating intellectual property issues throughout the country in federal court and in arbitration and has an extensive transactional practice in drafting and negotiating licenses, joint venture agreements, manufacturing agreements, assignments and other contracts involving intellectual property rights.

He also teaches intellectual property as an Adjunct Law Professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and began his career as a law clerk to the Honorable Dean Whipple in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

He is active in the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section serving as the chair of the Copyright Committee, member of the Trademark Litigation committee, board member of both the Books Board and Membership Board and as the former Vice-chair of the Copyright Division.  Dave is admitted to practice in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

Dave is also a frequent speaker on Intellectual Property issues at local, regional, and national conferences.

He is a chapter author in Copyright Litigation Strategies , a co-author in What is a Copyright? , and is working with a co-author on a book about the Copright Claims Board, expected to be published in 2023.

Dave is a volunteer with the Colorado Attorneys for the Arts, 40 West Arts District, Mi Casa Resource Center, and the Jefferson County Cultural Commission.

Prior to entering private practice in 1994, Steve served as house counsel for a publisher of college and high school business and economics texts and software. In addition, Steve has served on copyright and permissions committees with the Association of American Publishers.  He has written and spoken nationally on various publishing and copyright topics and taught courses in Electronic Media Law at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Voyageur Media Group, Inc., and is a member of the Authors Guild.  His clients include several East Coast publishers as well as authors, artists, photographers, videographers, independent producers, Internet service providers, multimedia developers, and software programmers from Maine to California.  Steve is admitted to practice in Ohio and before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Third Circuit.

Concentrations: Steve's practice emphasizes publishing and entertainment transactions and disputes, internet issues, advertising law, computer law, copyrights, trademarks, technology transfer, trade secrets, and related matters.