Legal Reference Blog by Renee C. Walsh, Esq.

29. October 2007: Michigan Child Care

Finding the right day care for your child is a grueling process so this blog item is dedicated to those who need assistance / guidance through the process. Thankfully, a Google search of ...More

15. October 2007: Urinating in Public - Michigan

The Michigan Penal Code does not specifically identify urinating in public as a crime. This crime is frequently at the local level by for example, the local cities, villages, or townships. Michigan does have a statute in the penal code against indecent exposure. MCL 750.335a states: ...More

04. October 2007: Copyright Protection of Photographs

Hi, my name is Alison and I wanted to know about whether certain material is copyrighted on blogs. I work for a crime prevention center (http://www.popcenter.org) and am a student/research assistant working under several professors. One of them asked me to find an image of a soccer referee giving out a red card for a "technique" to induce guilt/shame (which is a crime prevention technique). I wanted to see if I could obtain permission to use a picture of one image I have found on
"Ref Blog" at http://www.refblog.com/pivo...

There is no contact information and I am not sure whether this is public information/non-copyrighted, since it is a blog.

Can you help me out? ...More

04. October 2007: Bankruptcy and Land Contract Forfeiture

What does a land contract vendor (seller) do when he has served an eviction notice upon the buyer for non-payment of rent, and the vendee (buyer) responds by filing for bankruptcy? ...More

02. October 2007: Trademark Protection of Domain Names

Tim's Q: Company XYZ has requested that I transfer to them a domain that is similar to their company name (x-y-z.com) because it infringes on their "trademark". I have taken down the site to avoid any problem but they also request I transfer the domain to them (not clear who pays any transfer fees). I find no record of a registered trademark nor does their site indicate in any way that the name is a "trademark". Does a common law trademark give give them such rights to a domain name I own because it happens to be the name of their company?
...More