Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example This fact is negligible. Wherever the deal took place is irrelevant. As long as there was some verbal agreement, that could still be considered a contract, as will be shown in the next point. 3. No formal contract was signed between TWD and Yello. Even though TWD and Yello did not sign a contract, LMI and TWD made the agreement that LMI would arrange it so that they would pay TWD to set up a website for the band. â€Å"Such relationships are termed quasi-contract. Although there is no contract or agreement between the parties, they are put in the same position as if there were a contract between them.†1 The definition of what a quasi-contract is can be given here. As defined in Black’s Law Dictionary, a quasi contract is â€Å"an obligation which law creates in absence of agreement; it is invoked by courts where there is unjust enrichment†¦ [The] [f]unction of ‘quasi contract’ is to raise obligation in law where in fact the parties made no promise, an d it is not based on apparent intention of the parties.†2 Also, contracts do not have to be written down to be enforceable. A contract, by definition, is â€Å"[a]n agreement between two or more persons which creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing. Its essentials are competent parties, subject matter, a legal consideration, mutuality of agreement, and mutuality of obligation.†3 Additionally, a contract â€Å"is formed in any transaction in which one or both parties make a legally enforceable promise. A promise is a commitment or undertaking that a given event will or will not occur in the future and may be express or implied from conduct or language and conduct. A promise is legally enforceable where it: was made as part of a bargain for valid consideration; reasonably induced the promise to rely on the promise to his detriment; or is deemed enforceable by a statute despite the lack of consideration.†4 There are several types of contracts, in addition. Contracts may be one of three types: express (an agreement brought about by words); implied-in-fact (an agreement brought about by conduct); or implied-in-law, also known as a â€Å"quasi-contract† (which is â€Å"not a true contract but an obligation imposed by a court despite the absence of a promise in order to avoid an injustice.†5 Since it has been shown that there was a quasi-contract between LMI and TWD, TWD is now committed to performing services for LMI under the deal that was hammered out in the Wine Bar—even though nothing was put down in writing in a formal sense. However, this could indeed hurt LMI later as one shall see. 4. The website includes photos of Yello given to TWD, and three (3) short extracts of songs from Yello’s first album. TWD does not necessarily own the images or the three (3) short extracts of music given to TWD in order to market the band Yello. The copyright of the music belongs to LMI since they had a deal sign ed with them. Whoever took the photographs (one would presume that would be the photographer) who would own the copyrights to the band Yello’s photos. However, if Yello purchased the copyright of the images, then the images belong to them—or if the Yello band’s image is already copyrighted. This can be a complex issue. If Yello’s image is not copyrighted, it may be able to be distributed other places. Also, the copyright on the song excerpts must also be copyrighted in order to make sure that if there is any type of infringement, then the people or person infringing upon the copyright of