Archive: Copyright project 1 (Fall 2015)

Note to public: this assignment is created for teaching purposes. This project uses real-world materials in order to provide a meaningful learning experience. However, no actual affiliation with any person or entity exists. 

Background. 

You are fictional associates in a fictional law firm: Thomas, Thomas, and Thomas, PLLP, or “Pretend Limited Liability Partnership.”  (Also known as T-Cubed.)  There are no real clients and no real adverse parties. You will do work related to preparing a copyright registration form for filing with the United States Copyright Office.

Short description of project.

You are to draft a copyright registration form for a collective of William Shakespeare’s plays. You must also provide a listing of registration resources, do factual and legal research, and prepare a memo to the managing partner explaining how and why you filled out the copyright registration in the manner you have chosen.

The book.

The title and further information about the book have been previously provided in class and via email. You can personally examine the entire book in the offices of our firm’s administrative assistants, Ms. Mariela Torres and Ms. Karla Garcia, between 9-5 M-F. The book must at all times remain in the offices of Ms. Torres and Ms. Garcia.

Due date and time.

The project file is due Friday, Oct. 9, Friday, Oct. 2, 12 noon EST. All materials must be printed out and organized, and must be turned in to either Mariela Torres or Karla Garcia (administrative assistants in the faculty suite, upstairs, second floor, near faculty offices). No electronic submissions will be accepted.

Details of your task:

1. Legal research. Your assignment for Mon., Sept. 21 is to provide a one- to two-page listing of copyright registration resources. For details, see here. Afterwards, the managing partner will post some of the most pertinent resources to this page. You should familiarize yourself with the law of registration, resources on registration, and the relevant forms. For scoring of this portion of the assignment, see here. Include the most pertinent legal materials in your project file due Friday, Oct. 2.
2. Factual due diligence. On Wed., Sept. 23, you will have an opportunity to pose questions about the facts of the matter to the managing partner. To prepare, you should by now be well familiar with the law of registration, the book, and any potentially relevant registration forms. Investigate the work as well as the claimed owner. Determine what information you might need to fill the forms out properly. If you are missing information, be sure to come to class with questions for the managing partner. He is not an expert in copyright law but will attempt to answer all your questions to the best of his ability. Include documentation of your factual investigation and other pertinent factual materials in your project file due Friday, Oct. 2.
3. Registration form. Provide a printout of a properly filled-out copyright registration form for the assigned work. It should be included as part of your project file due Friday, Oct. 2. For further details, see the scoring page.
4. One or more contracts (added Sept. 29). Per our practice group meeting on Sept. 28, it has become clear that we also need one or more contracts to make sure our client owns all the copyrights we need to register. Please draft them and include in your case file. 
5. Memorandum. Provide a memorandum explaining your choices regarding how you fill out the registration form. The memo should also explain your choices regarding the contracts you draft. This is also part of your project file due Friday, Oct. 9. Friday, Oct. 2. For further details, see the scoring page.

Work product. 

Hand in an organized project file prior to the time listed above for the due date. It should be in paper (no electronic submissions). The project file should include:

1. Documentation. Documentation of your legal research and factual due diligence. Your documentation should support your registration form and memo. However, you do not need to send me statutes, regulations, or materials found at the U.S. Copyright Office website.
2. Registration form. See above for details.
3. Memorandum. See above for details.
4. Contracts. See above for details.
5. Other information. If you believe it would be useful to provide other information, please include it in the file.

Ethics, confidentiality, attribution.

You may discuss the project with other St. Thomas Law students so long as they are current members of this class. If you use any third-party materials as guidance (such as examples of registrations and any examples or models of contracts), you must provide the materials or their citations to me. Your work must be your own. You may not contact any outside parties for legal or factual assistance. These rules are to be construed broadly.

Important project-related information links.

To keep this page simple, other important project information can be found on other pages. Be sure that you have carefully reviewed all of these materials:

• Project 1 scoring criteria
• T-Cubed intranet (password required, to be sent remotely)
• Resources listing assignment (due 9/21, noted in class 9/16 and via email 9/18)
• Copyright registration resources (to be added after class discussion 9/21)
• Copyright contract drafting resources (password required, added 9/25)

Revised Sept. 29, 2015 (for expanded project pursuant to associate suggestions of 9/28)