San Diego Super Lawyer ,INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS San Diego, Los Angeles, Irvine California
We had a client come to us expressing concern about the authenticity of purchased Marilyn Monroe photographs by George Barris. The separate purchased items were sold by OneWest Publishing on Ebay and The Andrew Weiss Gallery. Our forensic document examiner team found out the items were counterfeits and the signatures were forged. After my research, I found out that the sellers OneWest Publishing/OneWest Media and Andrew Weiss Gallery conducted business together and have been misleading the public around the world for years with there fraudulent claims of ownership and twisted, misinterpreted court judgment.
We looked up the copyrights and the court documents; George Barris is still the sole copyright holder of the images claimed to be owned by OneWest Publishing and Andrew Weiss Gallery. They have confused the public and the media by manipulating the wording of the judgment into thinking they own the copyrights of Marilyn Monroe by George Barris and have wrongfully been licensing his photos for years. But in fact, Andrew Weiss Gallery only bought The Marilyn Monroe Weston Editions Ltd prints.
The owners of Andrew Weiss Gallery (Andrew Weiss) and OneWest Publishing (Chuck Murphy) do not have the right to License, Distribute, Reproduce or negotiate George Barris' work.
The judment Andrew Weiss mentions (Edward Weston vs. George Barris) only indicates The Limited Editions "Physical Possession" and never mentions copyright. This judgment was rendered by the State Of Califorina. Copyright is a Federal Law and can only be addressed in Federal Court.
The owners of the Andrew Weiss Gallery and OneWest Publishing are infringing on George Barris Trademark Signature and Copyrights seen below:
www.uspto.gov Registration Number 4372084 http://www.copyright.gov/laws/
Trademark Violation and Court Actions
If a trademark violator continues to use the mark after receiving a cease and desist letter, the trademark holder may bring a court action for an injunction. An injunction is a court order demanding that the violator cease all use of the trademark or suffer further penalties at the hands of the court. The trademark holder may also seek monetary damages and attorney's fees when requesting an injunction, but absent a showing of bad faith, these remedies may be hard to obtain.
In the case of severe violations -- for example when a violator is using a trademark to sell counterfeit goods or blatantly violating trademark law -- courts may issue criminal and civil penalties. Civil penalties may include compensating the trademark holder for lost profits or paying the trademark holder all profits obtained by the infringement. At the discretion of the court, the damages awarded to trademark holders can be tripled. Finally, counterfeiting trademarked goods can carry a felony charge under the United States Anti-counterfeiting Consumer Protection Act of 1996.
Copyright infringement is the act of violating any of a copyright owner’s exclusive rights granted by the federal Copyright Act. There are three elements that must be in place in order for the infringement to occur.
1 The copyright holder must have a valid copyright.
2 The person who is allegedly infringing must have access to the copyrighted work.
3 The duplication of the copyrighted work must be outside the exceptions.
4 Infringer pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits.
The legal penalties for copyright infringement are:
1 Infringed.
2 The law provides a range from $150,000 + for each work
3 Infringer pays for all attorneys fees and court costs.
3 The Court can issue an injunction to stop the infringing acts.
4 The Court can impound the illegal works.
5 The infringer can go to jail.
If anyone has any information or comment, please contact us by replying to this post.
If you would like to report any fraudulent activity by these two companies, file a report at http://www.iprcenter.gov/
The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) stands at the forefront of the U.S. government’s response to global intellectual property (IP) theft.