James WilliAs content aggregation, curation, and crowd sourcing become the norm, the limits of fair use and copyright have become more gray. Shepard Fairey’s “HOPE” poster and the SOPA controversy have brought the issue of intellectual property rights back to the forefront. How do you protect your creative rights in the new online environment? How do you limit your liability when you engage consumers for content?

Attorney James Willi of the Willi Law Firm guided us through the basics of intellectual property law at the April 2012 Freelance Austin meeting. We brought our questions and discussed copyright infringement, trademarks, patents, and protecting your brand.

Mr. Willi focuses on civil, commercial, and intellectual property litigation and appeals. He also has considerable experience with business transactions, contracts, intellectual property licensing, business entity formation, real property transactions and litigation, probate and probate litigation, family law, wills, trusts, estate planning, asset protection, and collections.  He has represented clients at all levels of Texas courts including County Courts, District Courts, Courts of Appeals, and the Texas Supreme Court.  He has also represented clients at all levels of federal courts including District Courts, Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Association, and the Austin Intellectual Property Law Association. Mr. Willi earned his Master of Laws in Intellectual Property and Information Law from the University of Houston Law Center in 2005, and his Doctor of Jurisprudence, Cum Laude, from the South Texas College of Law in 1995. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

 

The meeting was held at:
Ronald McDonald House
1315 Barbara Jordan Boulevard
Austin, TX  7872

 

Ginny Murphy