Walmart Special

Walmart Special

Walmart's Lesson in Copyright Law

What comes as a surprise to many, including retail giants such as Walmart, is that even if you hire someone to perform services for you, it does not mean that you own the copyright in the works created by that individual or company.

Walmart learned this lesson when it terminated a small Kansas video production company that was hired on a handshake to videotape the ins and outs of Walmart's business for more than two decades. The company, Flagler Productions, Inc., which owns the copyrights in the large archive of Walmart video footage began selling the footage to the public, including personal injury attorneys who are suing Walmart after Walmart terminated the company.

Below is Part 5 of Dan Rather's report "A Sudden Explosion" wherein he interviews an attorney who represents children who were severely burned by a gasoline container sold at Walmart. The report shows video footage from Flagler Production's archive (starting at approx. 3:19/9:08) of Walmart executives mocking the gas cans:

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How did this happen? Under copyright law, the copyright in a work initially vests with the author of the work, unless the work is created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or the work is specially commissioned or ordered, falls within one of the nine narrow statutory exceptions, and the parties agree in advance in writing that the work is a work-for-hire. Absent the foregoing, the copyright initially vests and remains with the author unless there is an assignment of copyright, which MUST be in writing. In Walmart's case, they had nothing more than a handshake.

What does this mean for attorneys? It stresses the importance of truly knowing your client's business. Have they hired any outside individuals or companies to perform work on their behalf and what exactly are they doing for your client — developing software, creating websites, writing content, photographing, videotaping, creating drawings, designs, logos, graphics, etc…?

On this flip side, if you represent the individuals or companies that are hired to create the works, do your clients understand the difference between the tangible work and the intangible copyright in the work? To help minimize the risk of future disputes between your client and their clients, it may help your clients to know they can distinguish between creating the tangible work for their clients and providing their clients with a complete written assignment of all copyrights in the work; in most cases they can also command a higher price for the latter.

About the Author

Leslie A. Burgk is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida and before the United States' District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Mrs. Burgk's practice areas include intellectual property  and bankruptcy. For more information about Leslie Burgk, visit www.BankruptcyAttorneyWestPalmBeach.com.

Can I grow worms from the worms you can buy from walmart?

Can I grow the worms you can buy for fishing from
walmart? Any special way to grow them?

These worms can be grown both red and night crawlers can be raised. Make a bed of chopped leaves and grass, mix in some cow droppings and wet lightly: then add your walmart worms to the mix berry them in the mix. The red worms will start reproducing right away the night crawlers take longer but will keep better this way. I used to raise night crawlers, they have to get adjusted to an area before they reproduce which seems to take for ever. I had to wait for a couple of months before I started seeing small night crawlers, almost a full year before I had enough to market. The next year gang busters made some nice money for five years on them. Then the state sprayed for gypsy mouths and I lost all my worms. Now I raise enough for my use and a few friends and I still fine a night crawler from time to time. A much pile is a good place to start with some coffee grounds.

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