Victor D. López's Blog: Victor D. Lopez, page 85

A reading of the poem “Remedios”

Here is the audio version of the Poem “Remedios” that is one of four separate poems that make up the longest free verse poem, “Unsung Heroes”, from my Of Pain and Ecstasy book of poems.   It is a cold read and I hope my readers will forgive its imperfections and my occasional cracking voice. In a world that labels the pedantic and mundane as “heroic” true heroes are not hard to find and, though they are often just an arm’s length away, we tragically fail to acknowledge them until it is much too late. Unheralded heroes touch each of our lives, and are often closer than we know, overlooked by eyes turned to the more glamorous and most often abysmally undeserving objects of our collective adoration.

You may play the YouTube file by clicking here. You may also access the link by clicking on the book cover below.

Excerpt: Book of Dreams 2nd Edition: Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction Short Stories

“Eternal Quest” [Excerpt]

*     *     *     *     *

The house was a modest and unassuming three-bedroom ranch, but the grounds had always been maintained by a gardener‑‑the only luxury Tom had allowed himself despite his considerable inherited wealth‑‑and had been his most prized possession for the joy it brought both him and his friends.  Phil could not imagine why Tom had allowed it to sink to such a level of neglect, and felt an oppressive pang of loss that seemed to grow more powerful with every breath he took.  After surveying the grounds for a brief interval, he shuddered, blinked back the tears burning the corners of his eyes, and quickly paced back towards the house, unable to further endure the surroundings.


After fumbling in his pocket for the key, he found it and slowly opened the front door.  Walking in after a moment’s hesitation, he found the inside blanketed in darkness despite the bright sunshine outside. He groped to his right for the light switch, found it and flicked on the lights. Dark, heavy drapes hung over every window, and all the blinds were drawn. He glanced about and found the furniture much as he remembered it. In all, it was rather Spartan: a large, thickly cushioned wood-framed sofa with ample throw pillows with a matching love seat, a rustic lamp table with a burnished bronze lamp on it, a coffee table and a 25-inch old-style wood console television set that could only be seen today in movies set in the 1970’s. A layer of dust covered everything in an ashen thin blanket, making the television’s remote control unit on the coffee table look like a flattened, tailless dead mouse.


To the right of the living room, at the end of a short hallway, Phil could see some light bleeding out of a nearly closed door in Tom’s study.  He walked there with growing trepidation, drawn by the pressing need to help his friend, yet impeded by his strong emotions and the ghosts of memories both fresh and faded.  The room was exactly as he remembered it: a small desk in its center with book shelves covering every available inch of wall space.  He knew the bedrooms would be the same. Only the living room had escaped the advancing bookcases that branched out from the study like appendages from some monstrous octopus, slithering relentlessly towards the world outside. Unlike the living room, this room was free of dust and was obviously well used. Phil could detect nothing out of the ordinary. At Tom’s desk, he noticed various hand written notes and an open book, an old volume of Plato’s Republic, bound in tooled leather, heavily annotated in Tom’s crisp, clear handwriting and rather worn from use. A notebook computer sat atop Tom’s desk, next to the open book. It was still on but Phil did not have the time to try to guess the password to bring it out of sleep mode and display whatever Tom had been working on. In any case, he was sure it would only show whatever academic paper or book Tom was currently working on.

Turning his attention away from the computer, Phil opened the top drawer of the desk and found it full of numerous writing implements and blank sheets of paper. The second drawer contained a stack of various manuscripts, all bearing Tom’s name. The first one bore the title “Western Philosophy: An Ongoing Reaction to Plato’s and Aristotle’s Epistemologies.”  Phil grimaced, and thumbed through several other papers underneath it with equally useless titles. These represented an eclectic mix of scholarly work in a range of disciplines that included philosophy, physics, mathematics and biology.  He wrinkled his nose at these as well and slammed the drawer shut with a mixture of distaste and frustration.  In the last and largest drawer at the bottom of the desk he found a curious mixture of artifacts, books and papers.  Most seemed trivial, and some were unexplainable‑‑candy wrappers, old movie ticket stubs, theater programs, concert tickets, a couple of college literature and poetry anthologies, and sundry other items that could hold meaning only for Tom.  Underneath these, Phil found and extracted a small metal box; this he placed on top of the desk and opened, it struggling briefly with a somewhat rusty latch.  It contained some sheets of paper with writing, and assorted snapshots.  It was the latter he looked at first; his hands trembled slightly as he looked through pieces of his own past, their shared past now so seemingly distant and irretrievable. All their old friends were there, as well as dozens of pictures of Chrissie, Tom and Phil taken over a period of more than a decade, many around this very house and grounds, some at college, and a few of the many trips they’d taken together. Tom had, after all, kept these. This fact deeply moved him for reasons he could not easily understand. He finally lost control of the emotions he’d been unsuccessfully trying to rein in and wept, sobbing quietly for some time.

After a while, having regained control of his always volatile emotions, Phil put down the photos and turned his attention to the papers in the box. Some were letters; he recognized Chrissie’s handwriting and his own on several. These he did not read. Finally, he found a carefully folded sheet of paper at the very bottom of the box inside a smaller tooled wooden jewelry box. He carefully unfolded it and began to read a poem in Tom’s own hand on a half sheet of paper torn from a spiral-bound notebook:

Ode to Innocence

     Oh half remembered, fleeting, happy time,
     When nothing mattered more than love and play,
     Imagination was then in its prime,
     And life began anew with every day.

     A flower was then a joy, a mystery,
     And not a petal, root and simple stem,
     And life was full of wondrous fantasy,
     Untainted by the intellect of man.

     That time is gone now, It cannot return,
     The fruit’s been swallowed, its slow poison kills,
     And yet my fallen heart will always yearn,
     For that ephemeral time of unknown skills.

     Oh false god, knowledge, daily you destroy,
     All that was holy in me as a boy!

Eyes glistening, he folded the piece of paper and replaced it in the small, wooden box in which he’d found it, then placed the small box inside the larger metal box and took the box with him out of the room.  A close inspection of every room in the house turned up no clue such as might help unravel the mystery of Tom’s present condition.  He dutifully checked all other drawers and cabinets, paying close attention to the bathroom medicine cabinet for hopeful signs of any substance Tom might have purposely or inadvertently ingested that might explain his condition, but none was found.  His medicine cabinet contained only a fresh bottle of Mylanta, a half-empty bottle of aspirin and nothing else.

In the kitchen, all Phil could find was a brown, half-desiccated half head of iceberg lettuce and several half-liter bottles of spring water.  He even searched the spider-infested unfinished basement for clues, but Tom had clearly not been there in quite some time.  Aside from some large and complex cobwebs, all he could find there were dozens of filing cabinets stuffed with scholarly papers, both published and unpublished works, not unlike the dozens of similar manuscripts in Tom’s desk drawer in his study.  Although philosophical treatises were clearly the dominant field represented here, there were also published works on a mind boggling range of subjects from Anthropology to Zoology.  There were also hundreds of dusty journals lining bookcases along every wall covering nearly an equally dazzling range of disciplines. Inspecting several at random, he found that they contained articles published by Tom. If Tom had devoted his life to the pursuit of knowledge, he had certainly not squandered it away in idle thought.

Finding nothing in the house that might help to explain Tom’s condition, Phil made his way outside again, taking with him the metal box he’d extracted from Tom’s desk with the intention of giving it to Chrissie in the hope that it might bring her some pleasure–and some validation for her loyalty and love for Tom through the years.  After locking the door, he allowed the warmth of the sun to wash over him for a few moments before getting into his car and making his way back to the hospital; he immediately began to feel a better as if the sun were cleansing away the sepulchral chill and mustiness he’d experienced inside, burning away the fogginess in his mind.

*  *  *

Tom was unaware of his present condition and would not have been much troubled were he to have known it. Every minute of every day for more than a decade had been spent in trying to disassociate himself from the distractions of the flesh, in attempting to obtain the Platonic ideal of striving for truth through introspection‑‑of trying to see past the imperfect shadows of the physical world into the realm of the true forms. He was neither bitter nor troubled by the currents of criticism which sought for years to carry him away, branding him at first as misguided, then as a reactionary fool clinging with mindless tenacity to obsolete notions of reality, and finally as an amusing anachronism not needing to be acknowledged or explained away.

He was only mildly annoyed when his scholarly treatises were no longer published by the leading peer-reviewed journals of philosophy; if they could not validate his views, it was not a reflection on his work, only on the fatuousness of what passed for referees in academia these days. He had not obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy for anyone’s benefit but his own, and did not need the approval of his peers to legitimize his theories. And, in any case, his work in other fields where he also held terminal; degrees—physics, mathematics and biology—was published regularly. He had learned long ago to cast off his emotions, to develop and enhance the power of his mind by shedding off the yoke of the body’s destructive, distracting influence on the quest for truth. And his self-denial had paid off handsomely. His body had, of course, suffered in the process, but that was of little consequence.

The ancient Greeks, he felt, were misguided in pursuing the ideal of a healthy body and a healthy mind. To treat the body and the mind as equals was sheer folly. Certainly an infirm body would interfere with mental processes; the body must be given rudimentary nourishment and care, else it would die. But what is the logic in devoting endless hours in selecting one’s diet, in exercise, or, worse, in leisure? Who but a fool would add five years of life through constant pampering, exercise, and perfect nutrition while wasting ten years of life in the process? Flesh is the primordial enemy of the mind; its needs, wants and constant yearnings are an intolerable distraction which, far from being encouraged, must be eradicated through studied self-denial.  Surely anyone could see that. But it is far easier to deny an obvious fact than it is to admit it and then lack the fortitude to implement its logical conclusions. Such is the destructive power of the flesh, that it will obfuscate the mind, not only clouding reason, but making it serve its purpose through endless rationalization, ignoring anything that threatens its narrow, hedonistically defined comfort zone. How sad, he thought, that the old sophists, those cursed foes of truth, had finally won over the minds of modern humanity which prizes expediency, pragmatism, political correctness and the comfort of the status quo above its very soul.

Tom floated motionlessly in an endless void. He was deprived of sensory information, but his mind was keen and sharply focused.  While he could not touch, hear, see, smell or speak in his present condition, he was not in a state of complete sensory deprivation, for his mind could sense its surroundings, though not quite clearly, as if he were watching a poorly tuned old analog television set through oil-stained glasses. Though incorporeal, he was self-aware. He recognized his state as one of preparation for entering into a new realm of consciousness, a communion with the realm of the true forms–of absolute truth.

He’d been so close before so many times to attaining true enlightenment; but every time, some accursed facet of his appetites would drag him down to earth again, the profane weakness of the flesh damning him to the shadowy realms of the pedantic existence we call life. He knew the signs well by now; he recognized the halfway place between shadow and light wherein he’d dwelt so many times before‑‑a higher plane of existence leading to absolute truth.  Even now, he felt the power of the true forms, newly draped in evanescent shadows, thinly veiling their true essence this close to their source. Absolute truth, absolute beauty, absolute knowledge were all tantalizingly close, within his grasp.  If he could only sustain his mental strength a bit longer, he would be able to lift the cursed blinders of the flesh.

He was not a religious person; this was not for him a chance to commune with God. He did not, in fact, believe in God, at least not in the traditional sense.  Religion, for him, was no different than all the institutions and ideas derived from the minds of men and women:  it represents only an imperfect vision of a higher reality as filtered by the imperfect perceptions, conceit and self interest of humanity.  He believed in Plato’s view of the soul as perfect and all knowing before making its journey to the material world.  There may not be a physical River Styx for the soul to swim across on its way to the earthly plane–a river whose waters bring forgetfulness of the absolute truth with which the soul begins its earth-bound journey–but the principle is certainly accurate:  in being born we forget all that we knew when our spirits were free and existed in the plane of the true forms.  Through introspection, though, we reverse the mind numbing effects of our physical existence and recapture the glory of our preexistence.  This was Tom’s lifelong quest:  to regain the glory that his soul had lost in melding with the flesh—to perceive good and evil, absolute beauty, and absolute truth.

As he neared the final stage of his life-long journey, he floated like a weightless, shapeless cloud through which flowed many shadows on their trek from the realm of the forms into that of the material world.  As they flowed through him, they left behind the faintest hint of their true essence, not unlike the intoxicating waft of a good perfume worn by a beautiful woman that gently suffuses itself on a bystander long moments after she has passed by.

“Chrissie,” Tom thought, or rather felt, for just a moment, but then the moment passed, and he pressed on.

Yes, he knew this path quite well. He also knew that the mental power necessary to push onward towards the final veil in this halfway place would be great indeed, and would require a colossal effort. But he was patient, and determined to utilize the last reserve of energy in his dying soul, if need be, to push onward towards the light.

 

[*****END OF EXCERPT*****]

*     *     *     *     *

 (C) 1978, 2011 Victor D. Lopez. All rights reserved.


 

Tagged: contemporary short stories, literary fiction, short stories

Poems: Free verse: Alice

Alice
In troubled times I’ve called your name,
My love, and clung to it as does a child,
To the belief in Santa,
Or the sightless, to the hope of light;

It is for me,
The visionary dream,
That drives perseverance,
And decries despair;

It is the hope of wretched souls,
In purgatory awaiting,
The seemingly forgotten promise,
Of their eventual release.

When my stale words confuse, confine,
Confound my mind, and images converge
Into the swirling blur of madness,
I call your name.

Then hopelessness recedes,
As does an incorporeal nightmare,
Slowly fading, leaving behind only sweat-soaked sheets,
Yielding to the purifying rays of the dawn’s rising sun.

A simple word, your name, but to me, a powerful amulet,
Which pierces the darkness and melts away,
The deformed forms that haunt and taunt my darkest days,
And fills them with all on earth that heals and renews.

A simple word which simply is my all, a synonym for sincere,
Unpretentious love that seldom asks yet freely gives,
That does not question, but simply knows,
That does not quickly burn, but always, and forever, warms.


From Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (C) 2011 Victor D. Lopez.

Tagged: book of poems, contemporary poetry, free verwe

Intellectual Property Law: A Practical Guide to Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks and Trade Secrets [Excerpt: Chapter 4 - Copyright Ownership, Creation and Transfer]

Chapter 4: Copyright Ownership, Creation and
Transfer
Copyright Ownership and Transfer
            A copyright  is a personal property right that vests in the author or authors of a work. In situations when a work is made for hire (e.g., when an author is contracted by a publisher to write a book in exchange for royalties and/or other payment), the copyright owner is the employer who commissions the work who owns all the rights provided in the copyright to the work absent a written agreement to the contrary.16  In work for hire  arrangements, the author may be credited with authorship of the work, but it is the employer who commissioned the work who owns the copyright and has the right to dispose of the work in any way it sees fit absent an agreement to the contrary with the author.17 The owner of a copyright may dispose of it the same as any other type of personal property. Namely, she may sell it, license it, or give it away during her life or after death by a provision in a valid will.

The Difference Between Ownership of a Copyright
and Ownership of Physical Objects18
            When someone owns a copyright, she or he owns the right to the expression of an idea that has been put in a tangible form. The expression of that idea and the copyright are two distinct rights and transferring one does not automatically transfer the other. For example, if you purchased this book, you own it and have the right to give it away, sell it to someone else or even destroy it. By purchasing a copy of this book, you did not purchase its copyright however. Thus, you may not copy the book to give away to someone else or post an electronic copy of it online; such use would constitute copyright infringement and could subject you to both civil and criminal penalties. The book is personal property, but the intellectual property—the copyright—is retained by the copyright owner. The same, of course, is true of movies, audio books and music distributed in traditional media such as compact disks and DVDs, or downloaded electronically to be played on a computer or electronic device. You own a copy of the movie or music that you purchase, but can only use it in ways that do not infringe on the copyright owner’s property rights. (E.g., you can give away the original DVD containing the latest new release after you view it, but you cannot make a copy of it to sell or give away to a friend.) If you belong to a movie rental service that allow you to download movies online, you may view the movie in accordance with your rental agreement either once or as many times as the agreement allows. But you may not copy the movie to your hard disk or burn it to a DVD or, for that matter, use screen capture software to save the movie or a video recorder to record if off your computer screen. Of course, you also may not hook up your computer to a video projection system and project the movie outdoors for your neighbors to enjoy. (Projecting the movie indoors for the benefit of non-paying guests, however, would be fine as long as the viewing is not open to the public.)
Duration of Copyright
            Copyright in works created on or after January 1, 1978 last for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.19For works prepared by two or more authors, the copyright lasts for the life of the longest surviving author and for 70 years after the death of the longest surviving author.20 Copyrights in works published anonymously  or under a pseudonym will last for 95 years from the date of their first publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first.21 But if such works are registered prior to the expiration of this time period in the name or names of their true authors, then the copyright will extent to the usual life of the longest-lived author and 70 years after his or her death.22
            In the case of works for hire , where an author is contracted to create material as an employee that is to be copyrighted by the employer (e.g., a publisher of college textbooks who owns the copyright to work created by its authors under the terms of the typical publication agreement), the copyright protection runs for 95 years from the date of first publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires first.23
            Copyrights that became effective prior to January 1, 1978 generally lasted for 28 years from the date of creation, with an additional extension of 67 years available to authors, their heirs and to owners of copyrights that were commissioned as works for hire.24
The Process of Securing a Copyright
            Copyright protection  attaches automatically to any work of authorship as soon as it is created and saved in a permanent form. It is not necessary to formally register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office for copyright protection to attach. However, and most importantly, copyright registration  is a prerequisite to bringing suit for copyright infringement. So that while copyright protection may  attach automatically to a work of authorship fixed in tangible form, one may not begin a lawsuit to recover or enjoin copyright infringement without registration.
            The good news for authors, musicians, choreographers, performance artists, painters sculptors, architects, business people and all others who want to protect their works of authorship against infringement is that the process for registering one’s copyright is relatively simple and can be accomplished at a very modest cost.
            Copyrighted material  can be registered in the U.S. Copyright Office either by filing the required forms and payment through the mail or electronically. Of the two, the online method is less expensive and generally results in faster processing times.25 As of this writing, the filing fee  for a registering  a basic claim to a single work is $35 if electronic filing is used and $50-65 if paper forms are filed through the mail.26 The U.S. Copyright Office estimates that 90 percent of electronic filers  will receive a copyright certificate within six months of filing a complete submission, while one-third will receive the certificate within ten weeks of filing.27 Filings through the mail take a bit longer with 90 percent of certificates received within eight months of submission and one-third of filers receiving certificates within five months of filing.28 (You will find samples of the current forms in Appendix A.)
            Copyright registration  can generally be accomplished at any time when copyright protection is in force for both published and unpublished works. Whether registration is done electronically or by regular mail, a copy of the unpublished work  or phonorecord must accompany the complete application along with the required fee.29 If published work is involved, then two copies of the best edition of the published work or phonorecord must accompany the application.30 If the copyright relates to an author’s contribution to a published collected work (e.g., a chapter in a book or short story in a collection of short stories), a single copy of the published work or phonorecord must accompany the application.31



16 17 U.S.C. §201(b) (2006).


17 This is the usual arrangement in the writing of college textbooks, for example. But a work for hire  can result in work created by an employee in his role as employee, such as reports, artwork, web page designs, and other works of authorship produced by the employee in the normal course of employment that qualify for copyright protection. Absent an agreement to the contrary, including terms in an employment contract or in a collective bargaining agreement covering employees in a union environment, works of authorship produced on the job as part of an employee’s work responsibilities generally belong to the employer.


18 See 17 U.S.C. §202 (2006).


19 17 U.S.C. §302(a) (2006).


20 17 U.S.C. §302(b) (2006).


21 17 U.S.C. §302(c) (2006).


22 Id.


23 Id.


24 17 U.S.C. §304(a)(1)(A)-(C) (2006).


25 The USCO provides tutorial assistance for using the electronic filing option at http://www.copyright.gov/register/index.html (last visited September 2, 2009).


26 Information on all current filing fees and services can be found at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html. (last visited September 2, 2009). Information on current fees can also be obtained by telephone from the Copyright Public Information Office at (202) 707-3000, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays, and by writing the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20559-6000.


27 http://www.copyright.gov/register/index.html (last visited September 6, 2009)


28 Id.


29 17 U.S.C. §408(b)(1) (2006).


30 17 U.S.C. §408(b)(2) (2006).


31 17 U.S.C. §408(b)(3) (2006).

 

Intellectual Property Law: A Practical Guide to Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks and Trade Secrets [Excerpt on copyrights]

Intellectual Property Law:
A Practical Guide to Copyrights, Patents,
Trademarks and Trade Secrets

Victor D. López, J.D., Esq.
Associate Professor of Legal Studies
Hofstra University
Frank G. Zarb School of Business

©2011 by Victor D. López
No portion of this copyrighted book may be copied, posted, transmitted or otherwise used in any form without the express written consent of the author.

For Kenneth J. Ansley

 

and

 

Emilio, Nieves, Susana, Osvaldo and Oscar  Gordedo (Rubén Gordé),

 

with much love and gratitude.

 

About the Author
            Victor D. López is currently an Associate Professor of Legal Studies at Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law and is a member of the New York State bar. His professional affiliations include membership in the New York State Bar Association, the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB), and the North East Academy of Legal Studies in Business (NEALSB). He also serves as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals and is currently serving as President of the North East Academy of Legal Studies in Business (2011-2012). He has also served the organization as vice-president (2009-2010) and as program chair of the 2011 NEALSB Annual Conference.
In addition to publishing revised and expanded editions of two college textbooks in the past two years through his new publisher, Textbook Media Publishing (see http://www.textbookmedia.com/Products/BookList.aspx), he has presented articles at academic conferences and published scholarly articles over the past five years in a range of subjects that include immigration law, bankruptcy law, unauthorized practice of law, state and federal efforts to regulate the high cost of college textbooks, and leadership ethics. Since 1990, he served as a Professor of Business for 12 years at SUNY Delhi and more recently as the dean of the business division at Broome Community College for four years immediately prior to joining the Hofstra University faculty. He has served as a professor and dean at other academic institutions since 1987.

Other books by Victor D. López


••    Business Law: An Introduction 2e (Textbook Media 2011)
•    Business Law and the Legal Environment of Business 2e (Textbook Media 2010)
•    Free and Low Cost Software for the PC (McFarland & Company 2000)
•    The Legal Environment of Business 1/e (Prentice Hall 1997)
•    Case and Resource Materials for the Legal Environment of Business (Prentice Hall 1997)
•    Business Law: An Introduction 1/e (Irwin / McGraw Hill)
•    Free and User-Supported Software for the IBM PC: A Resource Guide for Libraries and Individuals (McFarland & Company 1990) (Co-authored with Kenneth J. Ansley)

A Note to My Readers
           This book is intended as both a primer on intellectual property law and as a general reference for authors, artists, musicians, librarians, entrepreneurs and others interested in learning about intellectual property law and the processes for obtaining copyrights, trademarks and patents in the U.S. and through international agreements. The main text provides a brief orientation on the relevant law and on the process and cost of applying for patents and trademarks through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and copyrights through the U.S. Copyright Office. In order to make this book as useful as possible as a one-stop reference resource, I have collected and included selective statutory materials, sample forms, and other useful resources in appendices to provide greater depth and context for the material presented in the main text. All of the information in the appendices is available online, but some of it can be difficult to find even if you know what to look for and where to look.
           As you use this book, keep in mind that it can only offer general reference materials and information. While this book will provide you with timely, useful information and show you where you can find additional resources available free of charge from both the federal government and every state, it does not offer legal advice. Only an attorney can provide you with legal advice tailored to your specific needs and neither this book nor any of the self-help advice offered by various national services that assist consumers with document preparation, including the creation and filing of patent, trademark and copyright applications, is a substitute for the advice of an experienced lawyer.

Acknowledgments
            I am poor in all things save in the quality of my family and friends. The individuals to whom I have dedicated this and my previous seven books have had an enormous influence in my life, as have others as yet unacknowledged. If able, I hope to correct that in the future. In case that opportunity is not open to me, I would at least like to express my gratitude for the privilege of the transformative nature of their friendship that time, distance and life can never change: Maria Luisa Seoane (Marisita), José Naveira (Tio Pepe), Maria Olga Naveira Calviño (Olguita), Francisco Naveira (Tio Paco), Claude and Cathy Morell, and Bill Raynor.
            I would also like to acknowledge the support of Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business of my research, publication and professional development efforts, including the summer research grants that facilitated the research, writing and publication of various scholarly articles over the past three years.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: A Brief Introduction to U.S. Law
The Common Law and Civil Law Traditions
The Civil Law Tradition
The Common Law Tradition
The Complexity of U.S. Law
Use Available Resources Wisely

Chapter 2: General Introduction to Copyright Law
Introduction
Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works

Chapter 3: Limitations on the Exclusive Rights of Copyright Owners
Fair Use Limitations of Exclusive Rights
Reproduction by Libraries and Archives

Chapter 4: Copyright Ownership, Creation and Transfer
Copyright Ownership and Transfer
The Difference Between Ownership of a Copyright and Ownership of Physical Objects
Duration of Copyright
The Process of Securing a Copyright

Chapter 5: Copyright Registration
General Rules for Copyright Registration
Application for Copyright Registration

Chapter 6: Remedies for Infringement and Criminal and Civil Sanctions
Civil Remedies for Infringement
Criminal Penalties for Infringement

Chapter 7: General Introduction to Patent Law
Patent Application
Patent Specifications
Drawings
Models or Specimens
Oath of Applicant
Filing the Patent Application Issue of Patent

Chapter 8: Some Practical Considerations Before Applying for a Patent
Choosing a Lawyer
Useful Resources Available to Inventors from the USPTO
Patent Process
Libraries
Payment of Fees

Chapter 9: International Protection of US. Patents
Methods of Applying for a Patent Outside of the United States
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

Chapter 10: Trademarks and Service Marks
Common Law Trademark Protection
Infringement and Damages

Chapter 11: Registration of Trademarks and Service Marks
Submitting the Application
Specific Requirements for the Registration Application
Amendment of a Submitted Application
Duration and Maintenance of a Trademark Registration
General Registration Procedure under the Madrid System
Procedure for Registration of a Mark under the Madrid System
State Trademark Laws

Chapter 12: Trade Secrets
Trade Secret Protection
Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA)
Definition of Trade Secret under the UTSA
Remedies under the UTSA
Preservation of Secrecy
Statute of Limitations
Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA)
Protecting a Company’s Intellectual Property through Contract Law
Nondisclosure Agreements
Agreements not to Compete


Appendix A: Copyright Registration Forms

Appendix B: Selected Sections of the Copyright Act of 1978 as Amended

(Title 17 of the United States Code)
§ 502. Remedies for infringement: Injunctions
§ 503. Remedies for infringement: Impounding and disposition of infringing articles
§ 504. Remedies for infringement: Damages and profits
§ 505. Remedies for infringement: Costs and attorney’s fees
§ 506. Criminal offenses
§ 507. Limitations on actions
§ 509. Seizure and forfeiture

Appendix C: Sample Patent

Appendix D: Selected Sections from Title 35 and Title 37 of the United States Code
United States Code Title 35 – Patents
United States Code Title 37 – Code of Federal Regulations Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

Appendix E: Notes on Becoming a PTDL
Appendix F: English Language PCT Application Form

Appendix G: USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

Appendix H: Selected Sections of the Copyright Act of 1946 (Lanham Act), as Amended

Appendix I: 37 C.F.R. Part 2-Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases (Selected Sections)

Appendix J: Sample Form MM3


 [  ***** SAMPLE CHAPTER EXCERPT ***** ]



Chapter 2: General Introduction to Copyright Law
Introduction
            The U.S. Constitution  gives Congress the power “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”2 Congress exercised this right in passing the Copyright Act of 1790  which was signed into law by President George Washington on May 31, 1790. The Act was brief; it fit on a half page of a newspaper.3 It provided citizens of the United States copyright protection for the maps, charts, and books they authored for a period of 14 years and allowed copyright protection to be extended for an additional 14-year period. The Copyright Act has been amended numerous times in the intervening years and grown in both complexity and size. The current version of the Act4 as of this writing is 266 pages not counting 12 appendices.
            Although the law has grown in complexity since the first Copyright Act, the core concepts relating to copyright are still relatively simple to understand. In this chapter, we will examine the essential elements of the law and the specific types of intellectual property it is intended to protect.
Subject Matter of Copyright
            The subject matter  covered by the law of copyright is rather broad and includes “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”5 Works of authorship include the following categories: 6
         – literary works;
         – musical works , including any accompanying words;
         – dramatic works , including any accompanying music;
         – pantomimes  and choreographic works;
         – pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
         – motion pictures  and other audiovisual works;
         – sound recordings; and
         – architectural works


         Copyright protection  attaches to original works of authorship fixed in a permanent medium. Note that an original work of authorship is not protected as soon as it is created; rather protection attaches when it is fixed onto a permanent medium so that it can be reproduced and perceived by others at a later time. It is not the act of creation but rather the act of saving or archiving one’s creation in a tangible medium that grants copyright protection to the creator. For example, if a poet constructs a new poem and speaks it aloud, no copyright attaches to this new creation. Copyright attaches only when the work is fixed in an existing or yet to be invented “tangible medium of expression” that allows it to be reproduced and perceived by others later. Writing the poem on paper with a pen or pencil will suffice, as would recording a reading of the poem on tape or in digital form saved as an audio or video file on a computer, compact disk, DVD or some future medium of storage not yet in existence. Likewise, a new dance that is created by a choreographer is not copyrighted until it is “saved” in some form such as by being videotaped or by the choreographer writing down the steps in the dance on paper or some other permanent form through which the dance steps could later be communicated by others. Thus, a photographer who snaps a photograph automatically obtains a copyright to it when the image is captured on film or saved in digital form to the camera’s internal memory, or in an external SD card or other removable storage. And a writer’s words are copyrighted as soon as they are transferred to paper by a pen or other writing implement, or saved onto a computer’s hard disk or removable storage (e.g., burned onto a CD or DVD or saved onto a USB thumb drive or other removable storage media).
Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works
         The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right  to do (and to authorize others to do) all of the following with regard to the work protected by the copyright:

(1) To reproduce the copyrighted work  in copies or phonorecords;
(2) To prepare derivative works  based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) To distribute copies  or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
(4) In the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly ;
(5) In the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copy-righted work publicly ; and
(6) In the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly  by means of a digital audio transmission.7
            The exclusive nature of the enumerated rights  means that no one other than the owner of a copyright (and those acting with his or her consent) may copy, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform or create derivative works based on the copyrighted work. Unauthorized use of copyrighted materials can lead to civil and criminal sanctions that will be discussed later in this chapter. It is important to note that civil and criminal copyright infringement  can occur even when unauthorized use of copyrighted work is made that does not bring any material benefit to the copyright infringer. Thus, while making unauthorized copies of a copyrighted book, music CD or of a video DVD for sale clearly involve both criminal and civil violations of copyright law, so does copying a rented movie to keep for personal use, copying an audio book borrowed from the library, or burning a CD of one’s favorite music to give to a friend. By purchasing a legal copy of a copyrighted work such as a book, magazine, or legally downloaded MP3 music files, the user generally obtains the right to use those files for personal use only, and not to copy or redistribute them. Thus you may watch a rented or purchased movie at home, and show it to guests in your home for non-commercial purposes (e.g., without charging them a fee). However, you cannot show the movie in a setting that is open to the public (e.g., on a projection system in your back yard where everyone is welcomed to view the movie). Moreover, the same is true for copyrighted work that is non-commercial in nature. The performance of an amateur rock band in someone’s garage cannot be taped without the band’s consent; and if consent is given to tape the performance, copies of the performance cannot be made without the express consent of the band, nor can the taped performance be posted online, broadcast or played at a public venue without the band’s consent. And the same is true for a dance routine, short story, poem, drawing, painting, sculpture or any other subject matter protected by copyright.



2 U.S. Const. Art I §8.


3 The Columbian Sentinel, July 17 1790 at 1. A digitized version of the newspaper page can be viewed at http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/copyright/centinel.html (last visited August 11, 2009).


4 The current Act is contained in Title 17 of the U.S. Code and includes amendments through 2006.


5 17 U.S.C. §102(a) (2006).


6 Id.

7 17 U.S.C. §106 (2006).

Tagged: copyright law, intellectual property law

Unsung Heroes (Excerpt #2: Remedios)

Unsung Heroes (Excerpt #2)
Remedios (Maternal Grandmother)

Your husband died at 40, leaving you to raise seven children alone.

But not before your eldest, hardest working son, Juan, had

Drowned at sea in his late teens while working as a fisherman to help

You and your husband put food on the table.

 

You lost a daughter, too,

Toñita, also in her early teens, to illness.

Their kind, pure souls found

Their way back home much too soon.

 

Later in life you would lose two more sons to tragedy, Paco (Francisco),

An honest, hard working man whose purposeful penchant for shocking

Language belied a most gentle nature and a generous heart. He was electrocuted by

A faulty portable light while working around his pool.

 

And the apple of your eye, Sito (José), your last born and most loving son, who

Had inherited his father’s exceptional looks, social conscience, left of center

Politics, imposing presence, silver tongue, and bad, bad luck, died, falling

Under the wheels of a moving train, perhaps accidentally.

 

In a time of hopelessness and poverty, you would not be broken.

You rose every day hours before the dawn to sell fish at a stand.

And every afternoon you placed a huge wicker basket on your head and

Walked many, many miles to sell even more fish in other towns.

 

Money was tight, so you often took bartered goods in

Exchange for your fish, giving some to those most in need,

Who could trade nothing in return but their

Blessings and their gratitude.

 

You walked back home, late at night, through darkness or

Moonlit roads, carrying vegetables, eggs, and perhaps a

Rabbit or chicken in a large wicker basket on your strong head,

Walking straight, on varicose-veined legs, driven on by a sense of purpose.

 

During the worst famine during and after the Civil War, the chimney of your

Rented home overlooking the Port of Fontan, spewed forth black smoke every day.

Your hearth fire burned to to feed not just your children, but also your less

Fortunate neighbors, nourishing their bodies and their need for hope.

 

You were criticized by some when the worst had passed, after the war.

“Why work so hard, Remedios, and allow your young children to go to work

At too young an age? You sacrifice them and yourself for stupid pride when

Franco and foreign food aid provide free meals for the needy.”

 

“My children will never live off charity as long as my back is strong” was your Reply.

You resented your husband for putting politics above family and

Dragging you and your two daughters, from your safe, comfortable home at

Number 10 Perry Street near the Village to a Galicia without hope.

 

He chose to tilt at windmills, to the eternal glory of other foolish men,

And left you to fight the real, inglorious daily battle for survival alone.

Struggling with a bad heart, he worked diligently to promote a better, more just

Future while largely ignoring the practical reality of your painful present.

 

He filled you with children and built himself the cross upon which he was

Crucified, one word at a time, leaving you to pick up the pieces of his shattered

Idealism. But you survived, and thrived, without sacrificing your own strong

Principles or allowing your children to know hardships other than those of honest work.

 

And you never lost your sense of humor. You never took anything or

Anyone too seriously. When faced with the absurdity of life,

You chose to smile or laugh out loud. I saw you shed many tears of laughter,

But not once tears of pain, sorrow or regret. You would never be a victim.

 

You loved people. Yours was an irreverent sense of humor, full of gentle irony,

And wisdom. You loved to laugh at yourself and at others, especially pompous fools

Who often missed your great amusement at their expense, failing to understand your Dismissal, delivered always with a smile, a gentle voice and sparkling eyes.

 

Your cataracts and near sightedness made it difficult for you to read,

But you read voraciously nonetheless, and loved to write long letters to loved ones and friends. You were a wise old woman, the wisest and strongest I will ever know,

But one with the heart of a child and the soul of an angel.

 

You were the most sane, most rational, most well adjusted human being

I have ever known. You were mischievous, but incapable of malice.

You were adventurous, never afraid to try or to learn anything new.

You were fun-loving, interesting, kind, rambunctious, funny and smart as hell.

 

You would have been an early adopter of all modern technology, had you lived long

Enough, and would have loved playing—and working—with all of my electronic

Toys. You would have been a terror with a word processor, email, and social media

And would have loved my video games—and beaten me at every one of them.

 

We were great friends and playmates throughout most of my life.  You followed

Us here soon after we immigrated in 1967, leaving behind 20 other Grandchildren.

I never understood the full measure of that sacrifice, or the love that made it

Bearable for you. I do now. Too late. It is one of the greatest regrets of my life.

 

We played board games, cowboys and Indians, raced electric cars, flipped

Baseball cards and played thousands of hands of cards together. It never

Occurred to me that you were the least bit unusual in any way. I loved you

Dearly but never went far out of my way to show it. That too, I learned too late.

 

After moving to Buenos Aires, when mom had earned enough money to take

You and her younger brothers there, the quota system then in place made it

Impossible to send for your two youngest children, whose care you entrusted

Temporarily to your eldest married daughter, Maria.

 

You wanted them with you. Knowing no better, you went to see Evita Peron for help.

Unsurprisingly, you could not get through her gatekeepers.  But you were

Nothing if not persistent. You knew she left early every morning for her office.

And you parked yourself there at 6:00 a.m., for many, many days by her driveway.

 

Eventually, she had her driver stop and motioned for you to approach.

“Grandmother, why do you wave at me every morning when I leave for work?”

She asked. You explained about your children in Spain. She took pity and scribbled a

Pass on her card to admit you to her office the next day.

 

You met her there  and she assured you that a visa would be forthcoming;

When she learned that you made a living by cleaning homes and washing clothing,

She offered you a sewing machine and training to become a seamstress.

You thanked her but declined the offer.

 

“Give the sewing machine to another mother with no trade. My strong back and hands

Serve me well enough and I do just fine, as I have always done.”

Evita must have been impressed for she asked you to see her yet again when the

Children had arrived in Buenos Aires, giving you another pass. You said you would.

 

You kept your word, as always. And Evita granted you another brief audience,

Met your two youngest sons (José and Emilio) and shared hot chocolate and

Biscuits with the three of you. You disliked and always criticized Peron and the Peronistas,

But you never forgot Evita’s kindness and defended her all your life.

 

You were gone too quickly. I had not said “I love” you in years. I was too busy,

With school and other equally meaningless things to keep in touch. You

Passed away without my being there. Mom had to travel by herself to your

Bedside for an extended stay. The last time I wrote you I had sent you a picture.

 

It was from my law school graduation.

You carried it in your coat pocket before the stroke.

As always, you loved me, with all of my faults that made me

Unworthy of your love.

 

I knew the moment that you died. I awoke from a deep sleep to see a huge

White bird of human size atop my desk across from my bed. It opened huge

Wings and flew towards me and passed through me as I shuddered.

I knew then that you were gone. I cried, and prayed for you.

 

Mom called early the next day with the news that you had passed. She also

Told me much, much later that you had been in a coma for some time but that

You awoke, turned to her without recognizing her, and told her that you were going to

Visit your grandson in New York. Then you fell asleep for one last time.

 

I miss you every day.

From Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (C) 2011 Victor D. Lopez.

For more information about me or my you can visit my Amazon Author’s Page here.  You can also visit my personal web page with links to my main blogs at victordlopez.com.

Poetry: Free Verse “Unsung Heroes: Emilio”

Unsung Heroes
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.
 
 
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)
Your crime was literacy,
And the possession of a social conscience,
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.
 
 
You did not bear arms,
For you abhorred all violence,
You did not incite rebellion, though you
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.
 
 
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,
In a time of darkness,
Clung passionately to the belief,
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.
 
 
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,
And translated news from American and British newspapers,
About the gathering storm,
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.
 
 
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.
 
 
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,
And you refused to leave them to their fate.
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.
 
 
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and that their
Gentlest caress while they asked you for names.
 
 
You endured, God knows what there, for months,
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.
 
 
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in
His cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.
 
 
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted in accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.
 
 
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay
In the attic or hay loft of a Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.
 
 
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,
Whose greatest crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.
 
 
As you paid your long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.
 
 
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.
 
 
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.
 
 
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.
 
 
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,
Though not freed of its chains.
You were spared the war’s aftermath.
Your wife and children were not.
 
 
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.
 
 
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,
Broken heart,
Now rest in peace.

[For an audio file of my reading this poems, you can click here.]

From Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (C) 2011 Victor D. Lopez.

On Shattered Dreams

 

Memories assault my mind,

And make me drink a drought of darkness all my own,

The once-filled corners of my soul,

Are empty now, and though accompanied, I am alone.

I’ve given all I had to chase a dream,

Which taunted me for much too long a time,

Shards of reality now cut the empty refrains,

Of what might have been,

Of shattered truths and dreams gone awry.

I seek with the hunger of a dying soul,

For that which I know can never be found,

And am rewarded for my foolishness,

By finding an endless void where the only meaning to be gleaned,

Is from the shadows cast by my dying mind.

What of Don Quixote,

With his faithful Sancho Panza,

When dragons begin to take their true forms,

And windmills appear? He fights to hold on to the dream,

And failing to do so dies from the crushing weight of his reality.

When I awake, I will redden profusely,

Put down my ragged lance,

And take my rightful place,

Beside the great dolts of our time.

But still I sleep,

Though I know the uneasiness of incipient wakefulness,

I cling on to the dream, knowing it a dream,

For in its sweet promises lie the only truths I can accept,

My only hope the evanescent reverie of an immature mind.

[For an audio file of my reading this poems, you can click here.]

From Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (C) 2011 Victor D. Lopez.

For more information about me or my you can visit my Amazon Author’s Page here.  You can also visit my personal web page with links to my main blogs at victordlopez.com.

 

Tagged: book of poems, contemporary poetry, free verse, poetry reading

The Gospel (Revisited)

god is dead
he died of a bad review in The New York Times
that accused him of being
a fascist
and a prude

he is being replaced by a new
non-sectarian trinity
of
Me Myself and I
all of whom are
free
to kill god
and say
god is dead
god dead is
dead is god
is god dead

I think I have heard somebody suggest
(and therefore I have)
that the Department of Health is soon to issue
new and improved
antiexistentialistdespairpills
free of charge
to every adult
man and woman
sitting in front
of his/her
TV/Smart Phone/Computer
waiting for
godot

From Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (C) 2011 Victor D. Lopez.
 
For more information about me or my you can visit my Amazon Author’s Page here.  You can also visit my personal web page with links to my main blogs at victordlopez.com.

A Veterans Day Message

To every man and woman who has worn the uniform with honor in combat, thank you. On this Veteran’s Day, we rightfully honor your service and your sacrifice. And we should remember, not just today and on Memorial Day but every day, those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those who came home wounded and with physical and mental scars that in too many cases will never fully heal.

Some people of conscience may struggle with supporting our military when they disagree with the missions assigned to it by our civilian leaders. The decision to send our troops in harms way should not be made lightly, and a healthy debate on such decisions is something I strongly support. Reasonable people may differ on the wisdom of most every military conflict not only in the last hundred years but from the first time that our cave dwelling ancestors picked up sticks and stones with which to force their will on others whom they did not like, whose property they coveted or who simply opposed their will. If we wish to point fingers at those who commit our forces to unwise wars, those fingers should be pointed at Washington D.C., not at out military whose job is not to question why but simply to do and die.

Idealized notions to the contrary by those who dwell in ivory towers, as I do, freedom is neither free nor the birthright of humanity in the state of nature. Freedom is bought and paid for every day by those willing to put on a uniform and fight–not with words but with ordinance–to gain and maintain it as directed by their civilian commanders. It is paid for in blood and sacrifice by those willing to fight for it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, who wage a perpetual battle to win the hearts and minds of the foolhardy by any means necessary.

For those like me who have lived under dictatorships, freedom is not an abstraction or something to be taken lightly. Words did not prevent the Nazi flag from flying over all of Europe. Our armed forces, and those of our allies, whose sacrifice is no less noteworthy, did. The swastika does not fly over the capitol, nor does the imperial flag of Japan. Russian is not our official language, and it is only our armed forces that may prevent Mandarin or Korean from becoming the official language in the future, or Sharia  Law from replacing the U.S. Constitution. If history teaches us anything, it surely teaches us that.

Gratitude for honorable service should not be tied to one’s political philosophy or party affiliation. Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, Conservatives, Independents, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and members of every other faith have all bled alongside Atheists for our freedom. This Veterans Day, I hope you will join in a collective well-earned thanks for their service and sacrifice. And as the Holidays approach, regardless of faith or lack thereof, if it is within your means, please make a gift to a worthy, vetted charitable organization that looks after our veterans and their families. Think of it as a holiday gift for dear friends who are worthy of our support. Or, if you prefer, think of it as a self-imposed honor tax. And if you can’t find a few dollars in these tough economic times to share with those most worthy of our support, please at least share your gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform when you see them at a bus station, airport, coffee shop or on the street. Look them in the eye, offer your hand and say “Thank you for your service.” Do this especially for those who wear their uniforms from times gone by on Veterans Day standing a little taller in proud remembrance of their service and personal sacrifice. It is the least we can do for those who have been and remain the guardians of our freedom.

Tagged: military, Veterans Day