Areas of Expertise

Ellen  Stiefler's Areas of Expertise:

Ellen Stiefler takes an interdisciplinary approach specializing in intellectual property, Internet, technology, multimedia and entertainment, business and related fields. To maximize clients’ rights and help them achieve greatest success, Ellen provides advice and counsel on business formation, copyrights, publishing, multimedia, e-commerce,  trademarks, trade secrets, entertainment, identity theft and licensing, cyberlaw of the Internet, blogs, digital and software matters as appropriate.

Business Formation

Whether it's forming a new business, or analyzing strategies for growing to the next level, Ellen's primary mission is to help her clients become more successful. Ellen regularly forms business entities such as partnerships, limited liability companies, and S and C corporations. She handles commercial transactions, strategic alliances, and makes sure her clients are well-protected in the development, acquisition and use of intellectual properties.

Copyrights

Ellen offers sound advice to her clients on a wide variety of copyright issues, including protecting, licensing and transferring copyrights in all fields including books, photographs, films, musical compositions and sound recordings, graphic arts, fine art, architecture, computer software, publishing, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and works displayed on the Internet.

Stiefler Law Group regularly:

• prepares copyright registrations
• negotiates and drafts complex copyright development, transfer and licensing agreements
• advises and counsels clients on ensuring copyright ownership in the development of new works and the subsequent protection of those works
• guides clients on the use of copyrighted works owned by others and obtains clearances
• reviews the use of copyrighted works in advertising
• prepares consulting agreements and confidentiality agreements relating to the creation or dissemination of copyrighted works
• develops enforcement strategies
• sends and responds to cease and desist notices
• resolves "work made for hire" issues
• counsels on fair use principles in the context of new media and Internet technologies
• gives advice concerning photocopying and scanning
• counsels clients on whether a particular work may be in the public domain
• addresses emerging issues raised by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Publishing

Ellenrepresents authors, publishers, and others in the publishing industry. Ellen regularly counsels, negotiates and handles:

• Protecting rights of authors in their works and ideas
• Licensing Agreements
• Permissions and Releases
• Work for Hire and Copyright Assignments
• Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements
• Publishing Agreements
• Agency Agreements
• Collaborators and Joint Authors’ Agreements
• Copyright Registrations and Assignments
• Options and Life Rights Agreements
• Right of Privacy matters
• Defamation (slander and libel) issues
• Character Protection and Merchandising
• Audio Book Deals
• Electronic Rights Management (online e-books, databases, print-on-demand, etc)
• Secondary Rights Management (movies, TV, etc.)

Transmedia

Ellen Stiefler began her intellectual property law practice in 1983 and has been on the cutting edge of technology and innovation, including Multimedia and transmedia, ever since. Technology is facilitating the convergence of computing, communications, entertainment and consumer electronics.

Multimedia refers to a collection of related technologies which are usually interactive, often networked, and which permit applications which contain some combination of audio, video, text and graphics images.  Transmedia refers to the opportunity to transform content into many forms to reach people through all available media. In transmedia, the content often transforms as it is adapted to new media. Ellen has special expertise in facilitating the widest desired distribution of her clients' content into many media.

Ellen provides business and legal counsel covering the:

• Acquisition of the rights necessary to create multimedia products
• Licensing of third parties to create and distribute the multimedia product
• Licensing of Multimedia content (software, songs, video, photos, art, data, movies, etc.)

E-Commerce

E-Commerce represents a large part of Ellen's multi-media practice, reflecting the burgeoning growth in online activities in general.  Ellen is well-versed in the legal and practical considerations for companies venturing forth on the Internet and helps her clients capitalize on the digital revolution and converging technologies. She regularly handles:

• Setting up E-Businesses
• Website Development and Operation Agreements
• Online Content Provider issues
• Domain Names and Trademark issues
• Domain Name Transfer and Ownership Agreements
• Privacy issues
• Digital Content, Publishing and Electronic Rights
• Digital Security and compliance under Privacy and Security State and Federal Laws
• Online software licensing
• Internet Payment Systems
• Securing Online Content
• Electronic contracting issues
• Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)
• Federal E-Sign Act Compliance
• Electronic signature issues
• Information Licensing and Transactions
• Advertising and Marketing issues
• Proprietary protection of multimedia products
• Software Development and Licensing Agreements
• Internet Distribution Agreements and other E-commerce transactions
• Webcast and Ancillary Rights Agreements
• Interactive Online Entertainment

Personal Management

For select artistic talent, Ellen serves as personal manager as well as agent and attorney, advising them in every area of their career and professional development

In serving as personal manager, in addition to providing agency and legal services, Ellen regularly:

• protects and promotes the talent's right of publicity
• serve as artist's personal representative
• Provides guidance to enhance and further artist's career
• contract negotiation

Trademarks and Brand Management

Ellen offers a full range of trademark and brand management services including advising and counseling emerging and established businesses on branding strategies, securing and enforcing registrations for clients’ marks, providing guidance on how to maximize the goodwill of their marks and develop practical strategies for the selection, use, registration, protection, enforcement, licensing and transfers of marks as well as trade names and Internet domain names.

In handling trademark portfolios, Ellen regularly:

• Conducts trademark searches
• Provides opinions on trademark availability
• Counsels clients on resolving trademark conflicts
• Handles Merchandise and other Trademark Usage Licensing
• Advises clients on trademark issues in mergers and acquisitions, and
• Files new trademark applications based on actual use and intent to use and coordinates foreign filings
• Handles international filings under the MADRID Protocol.

Being well-versed in Internet and Technology issues, Ellen also regularly handles matters relating to Trademarks and the Internet, including:

• Domain name issues and disputes
• Jurisdictional issues and infringement via deep links or framing
• Cybersquatting and cybersmearing,
• Other e-commerce branding strategies.

Trade Secrets

Trade secret protection can function as a less expensive yet very effective way to protect intellectual property. Ellen often defines and implements comprehensive trade secret strategies for her clients to help them protect their inventions, processes, methodology, information, formulae, client lists, ideas and other trade secrets.

Ellen regularly:

• Conducts trade secret audits and designs protection programs to avoid trade secret misappropriation
• Drafts confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements to protect employers, independent contractors, joint venturers, suppliers, purchasers, business partners, contractors and potential buyers and sellers of proprietary technology
• Prepares e-mail and Internet use policies, covenants not to compete, no-solicitation agreements, and no-raid agreements
• Provides intellectual property and employment law advice when a former employee leaves with a company’s trade secrets and/or copyrighted materials
• Represents parties whose trade secrets have been misappropriated or who are accused of misappropriating trade secrets of others

Entertainment

Ellen offers a full range of legal and business services in the entertainment fields of book publishing, television, film, theater and music.

Ellen regularly negotiates and handles:

• Digital Rights Management
• Music and the Internet
• Brand Integration
• Infomercial Deals
• Maximizing Value of Assets for Media Ventures
• Performer Agreements
• Life Rights Option Agreements
• Director's Agreements
• Producer's Agreements
• Acquisition Agreements
• Co-Production Agreements
• Talent Agreements
• Dramatization Rights Agreements
• Collaboration Agreements
• Publishing agreements
• Releases of all kinds
• Subsidiary Rights Agreements
• Foreign Rights Agreements
• Agency Agreements
• Scenic Designing Contracts
• Costume Designing Contracts
• Lighting Design Contracts
• Writer's Agreement for Television or Motion Pictures
• Literary Option and Acquisition agreements
• Distribution Agreements
• Negative Pickup Agreements
• Songwriter's and Composer's Agreements
• Loanout Agreements
• Property Clearance Opinions
• Property Shopping Agreements

Licensing

Ellen helps her clients merchandise and license their valuable intellectual properties.  She helps clients create and implement merchandising programs from start to finish by identifying and protecting licensable elements of a property and identifying potential licensees. Ellen also drafts and negotiates license agreements and creates and administers anti-piracy policing programs.

Ellen regularly negotiates and handles:

• Licensing of all form of intellectual properties
• International Licensing
• Cross-licensing
• Joint development and marketing deals
• Distribution agreements
• Manufacturing Agreements
• Licenses with payments over time or options to purchase.

Identity Theft

Ellen Stiefler has appeared on numerous television shows, conferences, and in books as an expert on Identity Theft. You can purchase Ellen's books and tapes at www.profitabilitychannel.com.

CyberLaw - Internet, Online, Blogs and Digital

Ellen offers a full range of legal and business services in the CyberLaw, Internet Law arena.

Ellen regularly negotiates and handles matters concerning:

• Online Community and Membership Site Setup
• Online Advertising and Content Management
• Digital Downloading
• Podcasting
• P2P File Sharing
• Broadband
• Gaming and Virtual Worlds
• Television and Video deals
• Takedown Procedures
• Spam and Which Unsolicited Emails are Legal
• Privacy/Security Online and Handling Private Data on Blogs
• Online Marketing
• Seach Engines
• Domain Names and Trademarks
• Content Regulation
• Adware/Spyware
• Use of Images, Inline Linking, Deep Linking, Thumbnails
• How to Handle Use-Developed Content
• Duty to Monitor Blog Comments and Liability
• Journalism Shield Laws and Blogs

Software

Ellen offers negotiates and handles transactions relating to software development and use such as:

• Software Development Deals
• Licensing
• software protection through copyrights and trade secret law