INTERPRETING TRANSCRIPTION BYPRODUCT

COVER IDEAS FOR "ODAS A FUTBOLISTAS" BY HINCHAS DE POESIA PRESS

(click to enlarge)

The rush is on for me to put together, Odas a Futbolistas, through MagCloud. Of course, the cover is going to be designed by Chaz, but I have put an April 2 deadline for myself because I would like to make it to a zine fest on the Rutgers campus.

So, thinking of the cover has taken over and I came up with this one from a google image search of futbol and soccer. Excuse the skill of the illustration, every thing I don't know about art I taught myself.

COAXIAL INCONTINENCE BY ABEL FOLGAR AND MICHAEL MARTIN, PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY OF WYNWOOD

COPYRIGHT, PATENTS, AND TRADEMARKS

Another book that caught my attention while perusing the Bronx Public Library on E. Kingsbridge is Timothy Lee Wherry's, "The Librarian's Guide to Intellectual Property in the Digital Age" (2002) published by the American Library Association. Obviously, the book is industry specific, but at the same time Wherry's style is down-to-earth and accessible. In other words, even though it reads, "Librarian's Guide," it does not mean that only librarians can understand Wherry's text.

By far, this has been the book that has best expressed the difference between Copyright, Patent, and Trademark. And, the background information that it offers help to conceptualize those differences. For example, "All intellectual property protection in the U.S. is granted by Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, 'Congress shall have the power...to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries" (pg 1). I had no idea what the basis for these laws were and this book starts with that specific aspect. Wherry also brings up an important fact, "It has been estimated that 80 percent of the wealth of the United States comes directly or indirectly from intellectual property."

According to Wherry, "Copyright concerns artistic expression...is protection for the expression of an artistic idea that is 'fixed in some tangible means' according to Title 17 of the U.S. Code...The idea in the artist's or author's mind must take a physical form" (pg 3). "Patents are divided into three types: utility patents, design patents, and plan patents.. Utility patents cover those things we normally think of as inventions." Last, "Trademarks concern the identification of commercial origin. Trademarks protect 'any word, name, symbol or device, or any combination thereof adopted by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others" (pg 4). Of course, there are many fine distinctions, and Wherry's book does a splendid job of presenting scenarios that might easily confuse.

For example, Wherry writes, "the easiest way to define how protection applies to each type is by examining...the Rolls Royce hood ornament" (pg 6). "Charles Sykes, a famous sculptor of the time, created the Rolls Royce automobile hood ornament, know as the "Flying Lady," in 1910...The Flying Lady is protected by a copyright because it was, in its inception, a sculpture. The Flying Lady is also the registered trademark of the Rolls-Royce automobile company. But how is the Flying Lady protected by a patent...Orignally, the sculpture functioned as the automobile's radiator cap" (pg 7).

Moreover, when it comes to copyright, Wherry explains, "Once an artistic expression takes a tangible form, the copyright holder has five exclusive rights: the right to copy; the right to prepare derivative works; the right to distribute copies; the right to perform the work publicly; and the right to display the work publicly" (pg 8) An interesting thing that I learned and did not know was that, even if you pay 8 million dollars for a painting, you do not hold the copyright for that painting. Therefore, if you want to produce copies of the painting and sell them you need the explicit permission of the painter. I believe that same thing would apply for the permission to display the painting in a museum or like venue. I had no idea!

But, it is Wherry's explanation of Fair Use that I found most interesting. "Fair Use is a loophole in the copyright law that allows someone other than the copyright holder to copy and distribute copyrighted material under certain conditions without first obtaining permission" (pg 17). But, at the same time, Wherry argues that, "The goal of fair use is to avoid the rigid application of the copyright statue when it would stifle the very creativity the law was meant to foster" (pg 18). There are four guiding factors that determine whether Fair Use can be invoked:

1.) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2.) The nature of the copyrighted work.
3.) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4.) The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. (pg 19-20)

This book can be found on Google Books here

THE INTERIOR DESIGN OF A SECRET CAVE BASE

We don't think about it much but the interior design of a secret cave base must suck a lot of time from a villain's schedule. This may be the reason why a villain might decide to hire an interior designer. Someone has to make the drab and craggy walls of a secret cave base more hospitable to those in a villain's employ.

Now, I am not talking specifically about a villain's office, which must have its share of W.M.D. blueprints, illicit archive of blackmail photographs, super secret profiles on all the world's spies, and kitty litter box for that white, short-haired cat all villains seem to have. No, I am talking about the innards of the secret cave base; I am talking about the living space frequented by henchmen, guards, and assorted agents of malfeasance in monochromatic jumpsuits.

With that clarified, the interior design of a secret cave base is no easy task. One has to provide a living space for the personnel without denoting the nefarious evil taking place within. One of the largest pitfalls that an interior designer can succumb to is not leaving enough space for a villain's favorite weapon of mass destruction. Whether it be death-ray or anti-matter ray, a villain needs their space and pity the interior designer that does not take this into account.

The interior designer must also ensure that there is enough space for interconnecting tunnels, gun racks, and hatches so that the evil henchman can communicate effectively, defend the secret cave base if need arise, and seal up the secret cave base if auto-destruct mode is engaged.

MY FAVORITE STORE IN NYC

This is the business card of my favorite stores in NYC. It is located close to Dyckman Street around 207 and Broadway (actually it's btwn Nagel and Thayer). I passed by it one night while I was killing time. What caught my attention at first is that 85% of the store was lady's lingerie and the other 15% was soccer gear. Now, when I say soccer gear I mean like cleats and the whole repertoire of Mexican soccer club jerseys.

NICEST REJECTION LETTER I EVER GOT...

Now that I am trying to run Hinchas de Poesia I am in the business of sending out rejection letters. So, I am always on the lookout for the myriad ways in which journals let people down. This nice rejection letter was awesome because even though it was stock in nature, the editor felt that a little something extra had to be added, perhaps to ensure that my spirit would not be crushed.

MY LETTER TO WRIGLEY

LETTER FROM WRIGLEY'S

COPYRIGHT PRIMER

I want Hinchas de Poesia's first serious printing run to be for "Compound Memorandum" by Jim Foley, illustrated by Chaz Folgar. I don't think any of us stand to make a substantial amount of money selling our modest codex; but, with the logistical help of MagCloud, we can pursue the print-on-demand option and funnel traffic to the MagCloud website which handles all the printing and shipping.

Therefore, I have always wanted to know more about Copyright. Now seems like an opportune moment, so I picked up "Copyright Companion for Writers" (2007) by Tonya Evans-Walls, esq. It is part of the Literary Entrepreneur Series and comes with a CD-ROM. This particular iteration in the series is easy to read and is more or less a Dummy's Guide, just in a more svelte and purple body. In the first chapter alone there is a list of the major copyright legislation enacted since the founding of the country, and a brief description and contextualization of major modern pieces of copyright protection like the Visual Arts Right Act of 1990, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Evans-Walls writes to the lowest common denominator, which is a huge help when you are gathering information because it brings you to an abstract understanding pretty quickly. Let's just say that Evans-Walls writes in a way that is easily understood. So, if you are looking for specific answers, you can digest the whole book and your answer will surely come. For my purpose, I wanted to begin what would probably be a long journey, discovering what I can about Copyright. The first thing that caught my mind is that "Copyright exists automatically when a work is created...a work is created when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. By 'copy' the law means material objects...from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."(11)

According to this book, "as soon as you write the first two paragraphs of your book...it is automatically copyrighted--even if you don't get around to writing the third paragraph until a week or a year later". (11) In terms of years that copyright lasts, Evans-Walls informs us that "For works created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years after the author's death." (12) This book even suggest ways in which you "Show the World that You Own Your Work." One of these ways is by adding the copyright notice. The notice needs to contain these three elements: the copyright symbol, the year, and the name of the author.

The frontispiece for "Compound Memorandum" is going to have a copyright statement that looks something like this, © 2010 by James Foley and under it will go the copyright statement for Chaz Folgars illustrations, © 2010 by Chaz Folgar. So I guess you could say that Hinchas de Poesia doesn't own the copyrights to these works but has the explicit permission from both author and illustrator to reproduce and sell a product that contains both. Does that make sense to you because it kind of makes sense to me. Under it though, should also go the phrase, All Rights Reserved, so people know not to fuck around with my copyright gangsta.

Last, I used to think that mailing something to yourself was a way to copyright something because the stamp provided by the U.S.P.S. would hold up in a court of law...and that simply isn't true. Or as Evans-Walls says, "the only thing that you will prove when you mail your work to yourself is that the post office is still in the business of delivering mail" (24). In other words, "the action of mailing a copy of your manuscript to yourself does not offer any additional protection beyond that which already exists once your idea is fixed and thus your work is created" (25).

"UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS" BY FERNANDO BAEZ

Reading Baez's "Univeral History..." and coming upon many oh so many interesting tidbits, anecdotes, and unadulterated fact. The impetus for Baez's book is to share the destruction of libraries as he has experienced them. In the introduction, for example, we learn that the first library he ever used washed away when the Oronico River in Venezuela. Then, Baez tells us that he was there in the late 90's when they destroyed the library in Sarajevo. And, he starts with the wholesale destruction of the Iraqi National Library and museum infrastructure. In fact, Baez has written another book on that topic called "The Cultural Destruction of Iraq."

It is clear that Baez has thought a lot about his subject. His introduction is also populated by his ideas about the people who destroy libraries, "Those who destroy books and libraries know what they are doing. Their objective has always been clear: intimidate, erase motivation, demoralize, enhance historical oblivion, diminish resistance, and above all, foment doubt." And Baez clearly wants to shy away from the image of book burners as illiterate and inbred, "It's a common error to attribute the destruction of books to ignorant men unaware of their hatred...In general, biblioclasts are well educated people, cultured, sensitive, perfectionists, painstaking, with unusual intellectual gifts, depressive tendencies, incapable of tolerating criticism, egoists, mythomaniacs, members of the upper or middle classes, with minor traumas in their childhood or youth, with a tendency to belong to institutions that represent constituted power, charismatic, with religious and social hypersensitivity." Clearly, Baez has done his homework.

I am just getting into it, but there is just some stuff I really need to geek out about. For example, "The scribes, a caste of hardworking palace fuctionaries, prayed to Nidaba before and after writing. They transmitted the secrets of the signs through a secondary religion, practiced magic, and endured a long apprenticeship. They knew by heart the flora, fauna, and geography of their time, along with mathematics and astronomy" Which jives nicely with my ideas on reading and literacy. I really like Baez's introduction because it is erudite but not pretentious; it is above pretention, it dictates and you listen.

Baez writes of something that Borges said about books, "Of all man's instruments, the most astonishing is, without any doubt, the book. The other are extensions of his body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his eyes...But the book is something else: the book is an extension of memory and imagination" If this is true, and humans developed writing just a few thousand years ago then almost all of human history is an unwritten odyssey.

ILLUSTRATION FOR "IL CAPOCANNONIERE" BY CHAZ FOLGAR

This is the cover for the new zine that Abel Folgar and Yago Cura are putting together. The cover was designed by Chaz Folgar, Abel's brother. However, Chaz is an illustrator that stands on his own two feet and is responsible for Goif! comiz which he runs out of Miami. I would love to hear some feedback because I believe Chaz's cover is effing amazing!

SUPPORT HARD N DA PAINT, AARON DURAN, AND NUAI.ORG

I just wanted to big up Hard N Da Paint, a venue that provides youth programming in East LA on Friday nights from 6-9 PM (3802 Cesar Chavez Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90063). Hard N Da Paint is a weekly workshop and cypher funded by Self Help Graphics and visual and performing artists, like Aaron of Nuia.

Well, they need our help. If possible, please go here and vote for them. Hard N Da Paint is trying to secure some funding, and they are doing it through a contest on the Pepsi Refresh Project.

If you need more convincing, just watch the video and take a look at the all the amazing work Hard N Da Paint does with youth in East LA. All it takes is a second to vote, so do your part to ensure that all youth have somewheres to go where it's safe and productive.