Rebirth of America, this is my time

After deciding to join the video game industry, Ethan had already gone to the city library to check information in the two months since time traveled, so he understood what lawyer Barbara meant by fifty-six years.

America's 1909 Copyright Protection Act stipulates that the copyright protection period for copyright owners is twenty-eight years from the date of creation, and the expiration can be extended once, which is fifty-six years.

In other words, no matter how popular a work is, its author can only enjoy the income within the next fifty-six years from the date of the creation of the work. After the fifty-six-year period is exceeded, the work will become a public Works can be used by anyone.

This fact is actually very cruel.

Because it may happen that the author is not dead, but others are already using his works to start disco.

As for such laws, Ethan was very confused.

Because in his memory, the copyright protection law should be seventy years after the author's death?

At that time, he only thought that America's copyright protection law had changed at some point in time, but now...

Does that time seem to be around the corner?

"Teacher Barbara, do you mean that the Copyright Protection Act of 1909 will be revised in the near future?" Evelin was not a fool, so she directly asked the same question as Ethan was thinking.

"Yeah~ The copyright protection law will be changed soon! You heard me right, I said immediately!"

Ms. Barbara leaned back and rested her hands on the arms of the sofa.

The soft feeling made her eyes instinctively narrow, and even her voice had a hint of pleasure.

"Baby! According to the news I have learned, a company that relies on copyright to make a living is about to be unable to survive."

"Because if the current copyright protection law is followed, in a few years, the cash cow in their hands will become a public copyright. Therefore, as early as a few years ago, they have sent lobbying companies to contact people from both parties. , they urgently need to push for changes to the copyright protection law, and for this, they can spend a lot of money."

"Regarding this matter, I, my colleagues, and my teachers all think that this company will succeed, because this company has unusual significance for America..."

Hearing this, Ethan immediately laughed out loud.

"Teacher Barbara, is it Disney, right? Mickey?" he asked bluntly.

"Huh? It's Walt Disney!" Ethan's words made Barbara laugh.

Two slender eyebrows were raised, and the whole person looked extremely happy, "Their Mickey Mouse will expire in 1984! So you only need to wait a moment, and then you can perfectly enjoy the new version of the law. It’s so convenient!”

"Why?"

Evelin was a little confused and said, "Teacher Barbara, if we register the copyright now, when the new version of the law is implemented, we should also be able to enjoy the new version of legal protection, right?"

"No, that's not the case."

Before Barbara could answer, Ethan, who had memories of his previous life, had already said, "Evelin, I understand what Teacher Barbara means. Capitalists are all greedy. No one knows what methods they will use." Lobbying, and no one knows whether they will harm others while protecting themselves.”

"For example, is the current Mickey copyright in the name of a natural person or a legal person? Regarding this issue, when Disney lobbies for people, they can add a distinction between natural persons and legal persons in the copyright term! How much does a natural person have? Years, how many years has the legal person been?”

"Teacher Barbara's meaning is very simple. If we register copyright now, we are using the green Franklin to bet on the odds with the capitalists, because we can wait for the new bill to come out and then proceed with the laws that best suit us. For registration, if the laws and regulations for natural persons are better, then we can apply in the name of natural persons, otherwise, we will establish a company."

That's right! Ethan suddenly remembered! In my previous life, I don’t know which version of the American Copyright Protection Act, there were varying degrees of differentiated treatment on the nature of copyright holders!

He no longer knew the specific laws, after all, he was not a lawyer, but the name Disney proved everything!

Walt Disney died in 1966. If according to the legal agreement 70 years after the author's death, Mickey's expiration date should be 2036. But before Ethan traveled through time, he had heard that Mickey's copyright It's about to expire again, and Disney is lobbying Congress to amend the copyright protection law. Since there is a time difference, there must be a problem!

Without Barbara's lawyer's reminder, he might not have noticed this, and it wouldn't have mattered.

But since Barbara said it...

So in the land of America, wouldn’t it be silly if we don’t follow the copyright madman on the issue of copyright protection?

At this point, Ethan stopped.

He and the girl looked at each other, and he could see the surprise in the girl's eyes.

So he smiled and said: "Evelin, in this country, if you don't pay attention to maximizing profits, you will never be able to participate in the business game."

"Who wants to start a business?" Evelin, who wanted to understand, muttered unconvincedly.

“You have to understand it even if you don’t do business, because it’s the same with other things.”

Ethan smiled and said: "In anything we do in America, the first thing we do is to do everything we can to protect our own interests."

"Even if you want to change the world, you must first be strong yourself."

"Okay! Okay! I was childish just now, okay?" Evelin didn't want to argue and took the initiative to admit defeat.

Ms. Barbara, who witnessed all this, crossed her arms and showed appreciation, "Ethan Jones, right? Are you interested in law? If you are interested, you can come to Stanford this year."

She waved her hand and said: "Although Stanford's fall application this year ended in March, it is only for ordinary people. You can choose any major and study for four years, and then go directly to law school to study law after four years." …”

"Seriously! I think your concept is great! Many guys always think that they can save the world by passing the judicial examination! But they don't know that only by improving themselves first can they change everything!"

"Anyway, I think if you become a lawyer, your future will be bright."

The sudden olive branch made Evelin subconsciously widen her eyes.

The girl knew this was an opportunity.

Ethan politely declined the invitation.

"Oh, Teacher Barbara, thank you very much for your recognition. I will definitely come to you if necessary."

"Now, I just want to know how to protect myself legally without registering a copyright."

"I believe that since you asked us not to register the copyright and also mentioned the disadvantages of the damn expedited service, there must be other ways to get around all this."

"Is it right?"

Ethan smiled.

The words and deeds are extremely gentlemanly.

"You really have talent, what a pity."

Barbara was not sorry, and nodded with a smile, "Since you have heard what I mean, I will say it bluntly. There are indeed loopholes in the current law, because things like electronic arcades are completely unnecessary. Register copyright..."

Under the guidance of Ms. Barbara, Ethan quickly understood how to use the law to protect himself while exploiting legal loopholes.

That is to register a patent for the game arcade machine "Snake".

On the surface, "Snake" has no patents to speak of. The content is pieced together using existing technologies. If it is formally reviewed, it will most likely be rejected by the patent office.

However, America's patent application channels are actually divided into two types, one is a formal application and the other is a provisional application.

The former, a formal application, requires the submission of a series of materials, such as formal claims, affidavits or statements, IDS (Information Disclosure Statement), and the inventor needs to be designated. The patent content cannot be modified after the application is submitted, but the latter, a provisional application , you do not need to provide anything, you only need to apply to the Patent Office for filing, and the validity period is one year.

Although the provisional application will not issue a patent certificate, it does not matter, because all Ethan wants is to protect himself legally before the new version of the copyright protection law is introduced. When the patent office stamps it, anyone who dares to plagiarize "Grudge" The game "Eat Snake" will be punished by law!

The difference between the Patent Office's provisional application and the Copyright Office's expedited service is that the Copyright Office's expedited service can only be applied for after an infringement incident occurs. However, in the process of confirming copyright, the injured party cannot produce evidence at all. Sue others.

But the provisional application from the Patent Office is different. Once an infringement occurs, the lawyer can take this thing to court against the plagiarist! Even if in the end, the court believes that this is not patent infringement, but copyright infringement, it doesn’t matter, because they have omitted the waiting stage of claiming!

When the court begins to accept an infringement case, as the plaintiff, they can petition the court to ask the defendant to stop the infringement!

If Milohua did this at that time, Atari would definitely not be able to develop!

When the court ordered the defendant to stop selling game consoles, Nolan Bushnell was still making a shitty amount of money!

Ethan admired this kind of thinking very much.

Use legal provisions to protect your own interests?

This guy is really a mage!

But at the same time, Ethan had a new problem.

He looked at Barbara in confusion and said, "Teacher Barbara, if you say so, something is wrong again, because I remember that Milohua registered a patent for his home game console Odyssey. Why did they Can’t we sue like this?”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Ethan felt something was wrong.

After thinking for two seconds, he shouted again: "Oh! Fxxk!!! Nolan Bushnell makes arcade machines!!!"

"Yeah~~~"

Ethan's reaction made Ms. Barbara applaud and said happily: "Mirowa's patent is for home game consoles, and Atari's is for electronic arcade machines. The two products are different. How do you use Mirowa?" How about suing electronic arcade machines for the patent rights of home game consoles?”

"The situation you are facing now is different. In the market now, most businesses believe that home game consoles are a money-losing product, so if others want to copy you, they can only copy them in electronic arcades. At that time, once you find out If someone infringes your rights, you can sue them directly."

This kind of magic is really an eye-opener for Ethan!

Although he had known before that no one could make big money easily, but now...

He felt that this kind of thing could no longer be described in simple words!

The fifty-minute conversation also benefited him a lot. When the time was almost up, Ethan was also very enthusiastic when he said goodbye to Barbara.

After thanking him repeatedly, he stood at the door of the office and watched the other party leave.

Looking at the figures trotting all the way to class, Ethan had a question, "Does Teacher Barbara have a defense business?"

"Of course." Evelin, standing beside him, smiled and nodded.

"How much does it cost?"

"I have asked this question before. Before she came to the school, the hourly consultation fee was fifty dollars. After she came to the school, because she had to attend classes, she only answered questions from teachers, students and friends of the school."

This fee standard made Ethan feel a little emotional, "This is the real benefit of going to college, right?"

"So you regret it?" Evelin still wanted to try harder, "It's still too late for you to regret it, just catch up now."

"Regret? Are you kidding me?"

Ethan glanced sideways at Evelin and said, "I, Ethan Jones, am determined! I have never been the kind of person who regrets!"

"Even if I can't meet Teacher Barbara today, I can still find someone else!"

"You know, no matter who you leave the earth, it will still turn!"

"Really?" Ethan's tough words brought a playful smile to Evelin's face. "Does this mean you won't ask me for help in the future?"

At this point, she stretched out and said, "Oh, this is such a good thing! Finally no one will bother me anymore!"

"?" Ethan was confused.

"!" He glanced at Evelin blankly.

"I was wrong sister!" He knelt down faster than a Gaul chicken.

Thanks to [book friend 20190611195126616] for the 100 starting coins, and thank you for your voting support.

Note: ① To study law in the United States, you need to graduate from a bachelor's degree to apply. ② The provisional patent application mentioned in the article is commonly used in the United States only to obtain legal protection, because many people find this thing easy to use, and the one year of provisional application allows countless entrepreneurs to test their products on the market. Does it have potential? If so, formally apply to start financing. If not, give up.