If a fact is of public concern, meaning that reasonable members of the community could entertain a legitimate interest in it, then the publication of private material is generally acceptable. However, it is important to ensure that the fact itself is pertinent to the story itself.

The four different privacy torts are appropriation, meaning the use of ones name or likeness for commercial gain without permission, intrusion, which is an invasion of one’s private space, public disclosure of private facts, and false light, which is similar to defamation but not necessarily wholly defamatory.

According to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, sites that are operated within the U.S. are required to remove works alleged to be infringing by copyright holders so long as the copyright holder provides a full and complete DMCA notice. Failure to do so may result in the host being held liable for the infringement.

The four fair use factors are the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The current copyright term, for works created since 1978, is the life of the author plus 70 years for works of personal authorship and 95 years for works of corporate authorship.

Though registering with the USCO does not add any additional rights, it creates a public record of your work, enables you to sue for infringement and serves as prima facie evdience in the event of a court case. Furthermore, if you register before an infringement or within three months of publication, you can claim statutory damages.

A work is considered protected when it is fixed into a tangible medium of expression. Though the use of the © symbol was a previous requirement of copyright ownership, it is no longer necessary for a work to be considered copyrighted.

Copyright includes the right to copy, distribute, prepare derivative works and perform/display works publicly (including via recording).

A trademark is designed to prohibit competitors and others from using the mark of a company in a way that is likely to cause confusion in the marketplace. It does not prevent all use or copying of the mark.

Yes. So long as there is no confusion created or any implication of a relationship that does not exist, a blogger can use a logo from a company to talk about them.