Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

An April 9, 2008Wall Street Journal article shows how even a big company like Walmart can have problems by not taking care of its intellectual property.  Basically, the article says that Walmart hired an outside company about thirty years ago, to document various aspects of Wal-Mart`s operations.  What’s the problem?  The company produced over 15,000 tapes and is now allowing some embarrassing Walmart content to show up on the internet.  For example, Walmart managers apparently mock foolish or dangerous use of a product sold in Walmart stores.

 

Walmart ain’t happy.  One of the problems is that Walmart apparently has no WRITTEN agreement with the company about ownership of the content of the tapes – thus it is arguable owned by the outside company, and not Walmart, under the copyright laws.  Even though Walmart paid for the service, they may not own the content and thus not be able to completely control the content.  Look for some legal fireworks on this one.  Walmart is “reviewing” its legal options.  Some of the content from the tapes is supposedly on You Tube, but I have not looked.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Really interesting information - teaches us all a lesson - no matter as our small business needs to be protected as well.


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Take each day, mold it and make it yours.......

http://www.solutionshealthnwellness.com

I was just reading an article the other day about protecting your online reputation.  I think we always have to be careful about stuff that we do, record or write that could hit the internet and damage us professionally (not to mention personally). 

The article basically suggested you bury any negatives with a BUNCH of good stuff - articles, blogs, etc.  Of course, this is easier to do when you aren`t Walmart.   Personally, I don`t see how those managers agreed to it in the first place.  They were making fools of themselves and someone was taping them.  It wasn`t very professional from the get-go. 

~Kim