Poet's Connection with Denise Gibbon by Lisa Tomey

<p>We had our monthly Living Poetry Poet's Connection meeting on January 9 2021 with special guest Denise Gibbon, Literary Attorney. She talked about copyright and answered several questions related to literary law and poetry protection.</p> <p>From the <a href="https://abovethedottedline.com/about-above-the-dotted-line/">About</a> section of Denise Gibbons website:</p> <p>"A publishing consultant as well as a licensed attorney in both California and New York, I represent and educate authors about contracts, copyright and other publishing issues.</p> <p>After graduating from the University of San Francisco School of Law over twenty-five years ago, I began my legal career as a litigator in Los Angeles, California, where I worked for two large firms — Crosby, Heafey, Roach &amp; May, and a New York based firm (hold your breath), Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman &amp; Dicker.</p> <p>In the course of representing authors in California, I prepared and negotiated publishing contracts for the Los Angeles Chapter of the national mystery writers’ organization, Sisters In Crime, and wrote a legal column dubbed “The Legal Weapon” for the organization’s publication, <em>Ransom Notes</em>.</p> <p>As an attorney in New York, I persuaded a large New York publisher not to categorize my client’s already-published true-life-non-fiction work as fiction, successfully convinced producers of a popular TV tabloid to remove libelous material about a client from a segment prior to its national broadcast date, and persuaded a prominent and reluctant publisher to terminate three publishing contracts with a successful but dissatisfied author. Prior to that, I was a volunteer-attorney for the Author’s Guild, a distinguished national organization that educates writers about their legal rights. There, I reviewed, explained and revised contracts of various kinds for numerous Guild members.</p> <p>There was also life before and between the law gigs. As a reporter for a New York newspaper, I covered local news and interviewed artists such as Jan