Theft of contract copyright / join our concierge program January 19, 2019

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Theft of contract copyright / join our concierge program
January 19, 2019
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Theft of contract copyright
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Ken, 
    Great post on the importance of the contract and the new VA automatic renewal law in the January 15, 2019 article. 
    I see from time to time that contracts (including yours, sorry to say) are copied. It seems to me that this would be a theft of some sort (intellectual property maybe) or unenforceable. I am not sure of the legal terms that would apply. 
    When trying to sell/leverage your accounts, this seems like an issue that would cause a buyer some concern. If you use this, please use my fake name 
Charlotte in Charlotte
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Response
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    There is a lot of copyright infringement. Our Standard Forms are copyrighted.  Plenty by alarm company people and plenty by lawyers. What's really unfortunate is that we have priced the Standard Form Agreements so cheap for mass marketing it makes little economic sense to "rip it off" or try to re-write it so it doesn't look ripped off. Almost always the changes to the Standard Forms weakens the protection offered by the original version. What I really don't get is why an alarm company owner would spent an entire weekend, 12 hours, comparing and combining contracts trying to compose the perfect contract. I know it takes that long because it's how I started 40 years ago when an alarm client asked me to prepare a commercial lease for him. 
    It's also silly to rip off or put together your own contract because you will never be able to keep up with the changes. That's one of the benefits of the Standard Form Agreements, and it's one of the benefits of our new Concierge Lawyer Program for the alarm industry. https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge You will always be informed. 
   Stealing Intellectual Property rights is actionable. I won't represent an alarm company who comes to me and shows me that they have my contract - and they didn't get it from me; Happens from time to time. Someone not smart enough to get the contract from me and then come to me for help is immediately told that they have to first pay for the ripped off contract - and the old form they have, not a new form. Doesn't happen all that often, but it has happened.
    Even a ripped off contract can be enforced by the Court, so that's not an issue. The issue will be the problems caused by using the botched up re-written contract or using an outdated form.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com