The Curious Copyright Infringement Case of Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes
The Netflix movie Enola Holmes is based on a series of young adult novels by Nancy Springer, The Enola Holmes Mysteries, published between 2006-2010 by Penguin Random House. The series centers on Sherlock’s teenage sister Enola,...
Plots, Prose And Plagiarism In Fiction – Four Things Every Writer Should Know About Literary Theft
In my writing circles over the years, I often heard advice encouraging writers to steal a plot, use a phrase, or mimic someone’s prose. And every time, that taboo I learned in high school and stored in the rafters of my brain...
Do-It-Yourself Copyright Protection
Sooner or later, every blogger and writer suffers that dreadful moment of finding his work stolen. Either websites are offering free downloads of his books or blog scrapers are reposting material without permission. Content theft...
Juries, Then and Now
“The jury is always right.” It’s an expression I often find myself saying to my associates as we prepare for trial. Many of my trials involve intellectual property rights; in turn, these often depend on complex factual issues,...
Story Ideas Are Free as the Air — Just Don’t Breath Too Deeply (Copyright and the Law of Ideas)
Many authors labor under the misconception that copyright law exists because they have a natural, God-given right to control their artistic product. Not so. Copyright serves not the author but rather the broader culture. The wide...
Bail To Sentencing: Stages Of A Criminal Trial
Earlier this month, two writers asked for a description of criminal trial procedures. Below is an overview of the trial stages from Bail to Sentencing. While states and the federal government follow a standard set of procedures,...
Defamation? It’s the truth, I SWEAR! — How to Avoid Libel in Fiction
Whether writing fiction or memoirs, we writers are constantly encouraged by the literary community to mine our own experiences, relationships, and observations for writing material. As I write this post, the old adage “write what...