Law and Justice

Posts Tagged ‘Diego’

No matter where you live, whether it is in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Del Mar, Pacific Beach, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos, Mission Beach and Escondido or the cities of Huntington Beach, Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda, Buena Park, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Hills, Buena Park, Temecula, Indian Wells, La Quinta, or Palm Springs, unless you haven’t turned on the television or read a newspaper during the 2008 Presidential election, or looked at the internet, you have seen claims by the Republican campaign that the publishing media is biased.

Attacking the media has long been a tactic of national candidates. In this election, once again, we have seen this tactic employed, yet with little of the success it enjoyed in previous Presidential campaigns.  As an election and  constituitonal lawyer, one can only applaud this lack of success in the use of this tactic in this election.

For the most part in this Presidential campaign, one candidate has been leveling these attacks on the press with regularity and with increasing anger, John McCain. While newspapers expect this to some extent, the public that is not wedded to one side of the fence or the other appears to be tiring of the attacks.

Recently, John McCain denounced the New York times in the strongest words, following a Times report that McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, had been pain nearly $2 million by mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. McCain’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt said the New York Times is no longer a journalistic organization but is 150 percent in the tank for Barack Obama. Schmidt earlier attacked MSNBC as being an organ of the Democratic National Committee, and said the news media are on a mission to destroy Sarah Palin.

Unfortunately for John McCain, it has since been reported in the press that McCain’s campaign manager’s lobbying firm owned by his campaign manager has received $15,000/month for nearly three years and that and that the campaign manager was paid $30,000/month for nearly five years by an advocacy organization that he headed and which was financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fight regulation. It has further been reported that McCain’s senior advisor, his campaign’s vice chairman, and his Congressional liaison, also made large sums of money from Fannie and Freddie lobbying or were in firms that did.

In an apparent attempt to deflect attention away from his mistaken attack on the New York Times story, McCain then announced he was suspending his campaign to immediately fly to Washington after awaking that morning to find a report in the Washington Post that he was behind in the polls by nine points. Soon after attempting to criticize that finding, and knowing what the disaster Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric would be aired that night, McCain chose to dump his appearance on the David Letterman show, upstage the Couric interview with his own interview on the CBS News, and announce the suspension of his campaign that was in reality, never a suspension.

In hindsight of course, McCain’s actions were a huge error in judgment. His dilly-dallying around New York after ditching Letterman were picked up on and hammered at him unmercifully for two nights on the David Letterman show and later on the Daily Show, other news shows, on the internet and in the press. By the time he arrived the next day in Washington, it had already been announced that there was bipartisan support for the bailout bill, that just as quickly dissipated upon his arrival. It was reported that his campaign had not been suspended and Letterman, among others joked at his expense why he must have felt he could not leave his campaign in the hands of Sarah Palin, when she was seen incapable of answering simple questions put to her by Katie Couric. And after announcing he would not take part in the debate until there was either a bailout bill or great progress toward one, he had to fly back from Washington for the debate with no bailout bill in hand and Congress much less united than when he had arrived.

In the past, attacking the press has proved fruitful for Presidential candidates. This time the attack is falling on deaf ears and has either been the exception to the rule that it will help a candidate, or there is a change taking place in what a candidate risks if he is wrong.  As an election, campaign, publishing, marketing, media and constitutional law attorney, one can only conclude that negative attacks by the candidates are not working as they used to, whether it is against the media or against the other candidate.  The public has become weary of such tactics and it is showing in the polls.

Visit the Sebastian Gibson Law website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com . If you have a publishing, literary, first amendment, media, marketing or constitutional law issue, come to an experienced law firm who can represent you as your California Publishing Lawyer, your San Diego Constitutional Attorney and your attorney throughout Southern California. We have the resources and knowledge to represent you from San Diego to Orange County, from Huntington Beach and Newport Beach to Long Beach, Santa Monica, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. We also represent clients inland from Anaheim to Temecula, from Rancho Cucamonga to Palm Springs and Indian Wells.

If you are an inventor, a writer, a musician or a designer, it doesn’t matter if you live in Murrieta, California, San Diego, CA, Mission Viejo, Carlsbad, La Jolla, Westminster, Orange County, Anaheim, Orange, Irvine, Escondido, San Luis Obispo, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Huntington Beach, Temecula or Palm Springs, Palm Desert, or Indian Wells, CA, the law is the same with regard to intellectual property in California. But why are patents, trademarks and copyrights are considered “Intellectual Property?” A good patent lawyer, trademark attorney, copyright lawyer or intellectual property law firm can tell you.

Actually it is the inventions that are patented, the symbols or words that are trademarked and the works of literature, music, film and the like that are copyrighted that are considered to be the intellectual property, but the question is really what makes them either intellectual or property?

Some, if not many of the works that are copyrighted are anything but intellectual, but their copyrights are extremely valuable nonetheless.

A funny looking symbol that becomes a trademark is perhaps more artistic than intellectual, but that symbol can be worth millions.I

nventions are really more inventive than intellectual, but if they work, they can be a benefit to mankind.

So, is it right that any of these things should be considered the property of one and not all of us?

What gives one person the right to protect a set of words or an invention as their own property?

Well, what the law does is reward people for their intellectual efforts. Whether that effort is to paint a beautiful painting, to write a wonderful piece of music or to create a device that makes it easier or more energy-saving to do something, that person deserves to be rewarded. And what the law does is give that composer or inventor a number of years to make a monetary reward from his or her efforts.

Some people question why a composer or inventor still has to go to great cost or effort to then market their works before they get any reward. Why aren’t they simply paid for the creation? Why do they still have to become marketing and advertising geniuses? Why must they even pay filing fees or an attorney to have their works and inventions protected.

The answer is simply a question. Who would pay these writers and inventors? The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office doesn’t have money to pay these people. Nor does the Library of Congress.

The system that is worldwide for protecting the works of our most artistic and intelligent people is not without fault, but it is the best system devised to date, despite the many efforts by pirates and infringers to steal the rewards that should go to these writers and inventors.

Patents, trademarks and copyrights can be extremely valuable. The copyright infringement of a book not long ago resulted in a seven figure settlement. Trademark infringement and patent infringement cases routinely result in settlement in the millions. And patents can be licensed or sold outright for tens of millions of dollars and sometimes more.

If you would like more information on intellectual property, need defense in a lawsuit, or wish to patent an invention or design, trademark a slogan, symbol or phrase, or copyright a literary work, photograph or a musical composition as an example, we invite you to call us.

If you have an intellectual property matter in Orange County, San Diego, in the Inland Empire, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your San Diego Intellectual Property Lawyers, and Orange County and Anaheim Intellectual Property Attorneys. For this reason, be sure to hire a California law firm with copyright lawyers who are ready to serve you in many areas such as Costa Mesa, Anaheim and Pacific Beach so you are properly represented when you need to be.

If you have an intellectual property matter and need to know your rights, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and learn about your rights and options. You can also call us to speak directly to Sebastian Gibson on the phone about your legal matter.

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Unless you are in a coma, it doesn’t matter where you live in California, in Corona del Mar, San Diego, Orange County, CA, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Riverside, Chula Vista, Irvine, San Bernardino, Huntington Beach, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Oceanside, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Garden Grove, Palmdale, Corona, Escondido, Orange, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Victorville, Carlsbad, Temecula, Murrieta, Mission Viejo, El Cajon, Vista, Westminster, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Hesperia, Newport Beach, Buena Park, Indio, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells or Coachella, you will have somehow heard there is an economic crisis going on, and that Congress passed a whopping $700 billion bailout plan.

What you may not know, is that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s draft proposal for the bailout of financial service firms on Wall Street as it was presented to Congress was an unconstitutional power grab of monumental proportions.

Under Paulson’s plan, no oversight, no review and no challenges would have been allowed by the courts, by Congress or by individuals. Henry Paulson had proposed that he effectively be appointed economic czar.

Under Section 8 of his initial proposal, which for years to come, will undoubtedly form the basis for questions on bar exams for law students, “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act, are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

Under Section 8 of this Act, the Treasury Secretary would arguably have become a more powerful figure than our largely missing-in-action President, more powerful than the head of the Federal Reserve, the SEC and Congress combined, and as such in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The draft proposal was in conflict with the Constitution for the simple reason that our nation’s most important document provides that every member of the executive branch, including the Treasury Secretary, is subject to legislative and executive review. Neither Congress nor the executive may delegate its authority to a cabinet member. It would have been like Congress delegating all its power to Sarah Palin, or to a single congressman, or to Superdog for that matter.

As hard as it is to violate the nondelegation clause in the Constitution, if there has ever been a proposal to come out of the executive branch which does a good job of it, it has been argued that this is probably the one.

The question is, did the President tell Paulson to get a blank check from Congress and to heck with the Constitution or did Paulson come up with this on his own? Did the President and Paulson really believe that if they told Congress they needed this power in 24 hours like the TV show, that Congress, even the Republicans in Congress, would give it to him?

In bad times even more so than in good times, we expect the leaders of this country to protect the Constitution of the United States, not to usurp the powers it conveys on other branches of government. Let us hope that in the coming days and months as this country tries to mend itself from this economic crisis, that Congress remembers what the executive branch seems to have forgotten – the Constitution.  

If you have a constitutional, or first amendment law issue in San Diego, Newport Beach, Irvine, Orange County, La Jolla, in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your California Constitutional Lawyer and your Palm Springs and San Diego Business Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with business and constitutional law experience who can serve areas such as Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Anaheim, Irvine, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fullerton, Del Mar, San Diego, Orange County, San Luis Obispo, Buena Park, La Jolla, Oxnard, Ventura, La Quinta, and Santa Barbara so you are properly represented.

If you have a constitutional, first amendment or business law issue of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com  and learn how we can assist you.