Legal advice for self publishing

by Cassy Fry
18th June 2015

I want to self publish a poetry project I've been working on. I'm confident the work itself doesn't infringe any copyright, but need some advice about trademarks re: my proposed title... 50 Shades Of Poetry. Is there anywhere I can get free legal advice or resources? If I need to speak to a solicitor, is there anything I should look out for?

Replies

Succom, Drye and Smyle must have got rid of Flywheel and Shyster when they merged with Skweesem and Associates.

They have a branch in the Republic of Ireland: Pound & O'Flesh.

Sorry, Cassy, not really helping, but we're on a roll.

Profile picture for user KatyW_
Katy
W
270 points
Ready to publish
Short stories
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Historical
Speculative Fiction
Katy W
20/06/2015

Those American law firms can be a nightmare.

Their address wasn't Elm Street, was it? ;)

Profile picture for user oldchesn_4270
Jonathan
Hopkins
6735 points
Practical publishing
Fiction
Historical
Adventure
The writing process
The publishing process
Self-Publishing
Jonathan Hopkins
20/06/2015

WARNING!!! I spoke (wrote) too soon.

I have just received a letter from Skweesem, Succom, Drye, and Smyle, the U.S. legal representatives of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, informing me that my web-site - even though it earns me no money - is in infringement of their clients' literary rights. Unless I take out full-page ads in Writers' Magazine, the TLS, and the New York times, apologising; and pay an out-of-court settlement for the "emotional angish [sic]" caused their clients, I will be (and I quote) "taken to the cleaners".

Profile picture for user jimmy@ji_34235
Jimmy
Hollis i Dickson
1920 points
Ready to publish
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Media and Journalism
Business, Management and Education
Popular science, Social science, Medical Science
Practical and Self-Help
Jimmy Hollis i Dickson
20/06/2015