Copyright Trivia: Music Edition

Which of the following acts violates copyright? Choose all that apply.

  1. Photocopying living American composer Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten” (1983) scores for a famous orchestra to perform for a live audience without paying.
  2. Using a portion of Frederic Chopin’s “Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2” (1830) in your new pop song.
  3. Recording your own quintet performance of “Strum” (2006) by Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Composer Jessie Montgomery with her permission.
  4. Playing “Married Life” by Michael Giacchino, the song from Disney Pixar’s adorable film UP on FM/AM radio at the bookstore.

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My Creative Journey Towards IP Law

Every kid in the world at some point in their lives has probably dreamt of inventing something or creating a brand–and making millions off their creative genius. I know I have. While I regret to inform you that I am neither a millionaire nor the next Steve Jobs (yet!), I’ve dabbled in many areas of intellectual property, which ultimately led me down the path to IP law. Continue reading “My Creative Journey Towards IP Law”

Starting Up My Interest in IP Law

“You’ll never know until you try” is one of my favorite quotes. My interests in college spanned multiple subjects, including Economics, English, and Political Science. I worked in business development and sales prior to beginning my legal career at Loyola this past fall. Although I am still exploring, IP is high on my list of legal practice areas because it connects to my prior experience working with startups. Here’s how I got involved:

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Why I’m Interested in a Career in IP

The Glamour of Entertainment Law

I’ve been interested in IP from an early age. Growing up, my mother’s best friend worked in Entertainment Law in Hollywood. I didn’t understand her job until years later, but she was working in IP.

At the time, her job simply seemed glamorous. She represented ‘the stars.’ I was intrigued by the idea of making money as a lawyer working with celebrities. I have loved music since I began playing the violin at four years old and I vividly remember my first concert at the age of six. Music has been a part of my entire life. Once I learned about IP and its relation to music, I couldn’t help but think of a better way to enjoy a career in law.

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An IP Student’s Guide to Patent Law: What I Wish I Knew Before My First Interview

I came to Loyola with an interest in intellectual property, specifically patents. Patents are granted by a country to protect inventions by granting the inventor certain rights. When it came time to start my job search for my 1L summer, I knew I wanted to try and get experience in the field of IP. In every IP interview I’ve had thus far, the interviewer has always asked what kind of patent law I want to practice. Do I want to “prosecute” patents, meaning writing and obtaining a patent for an inventor? Or, do I want to litigate issues for granted patents? These are the two most common areas of patent law. In my early interviews, I would answer patent litigation. I have previous experience as a litigation consultant prior to law school, and have always romanticized being a trial attorney. However, as I gained interview experience and spoke with more attorneys, I realized there were many different areas of patent law of which I had no idea existed. I realized I had an interest in a lot of them. After learning more about these fields, I was able to better tailor my job search to firms that offered those types of patent law.

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“TRIPS” Down Memory Lane: An Interview with Sarah Johnson

Sarah Johnson is an in-house attorney at Kemin Industries. She handles the everyday business concerns regarding intellectual property (IP), international business, and contracting. Prior to working at Kemin Industries, Sarah learned successful litigation strategies as an associate attorney at Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff.

She graduated from Cornell College in Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Religion before attending Loyola University Chicago School of Law. While at Loyola, she competed on the National Health Law Moot Court Team and the Appellate Lawyers Association Moot Court Team. She wrote for the Annals of Health Law and Journal of Regulatory Compliance. Sarah externed at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and clerked for the Honorable Judge Neil Hartigan in the Court of Claims. She was also a research assistant for Professor Cynthia Ho, who mentored Sarah during her time at Loyola after connecting during a prospective student tour. Sarah then went onto take all of Professor Ho’s IP courses in addition to completing the Advocacy and Health Law certificates. She was also a member of IP Bytes.

We recently spoke about her background, her Loyola experiences, and how IP has influenced her legal career.

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My Dynamic Journey to IP Law

Fusion

[fyoo-zhin] (noun), A process or mechanism of combining two distinct matters into one.

For most of my life, I didn’t consider law school at all. I was interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), fields that I thought had nothing to do with law. In my head, TV-depictions of lawyers like Harvey Specter or Olivia Pope were the only representations of legal work. So basically, I thought attorneys managed million-dollar-deals or put criminals behind bars.

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Places of Discovery Like Loyola

Finding Intellectual Property Law

Photo taken by Suet Lee.

My favorite Saturday college pastime was teaching kids about everything from ozobots to farm automation to the Polar Virtual Reality Exhibit. I taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Discovery Building, a place where students and their families can explore science, technology, engineering, and math concepts through fun activities. The Discovery Building also houses the Morgridge Institute for Research, a private, nonprofit research institute dedicated to biology studies and interdisciplinary biomedical research. That is where I first discovered intellectual property (IP) law as a career path. How? By seeing its application in the lab!                                       

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