Jackson estate, businessman settle copyright case

FILE - In a March 5, 2009 file photo US singer Michael Jackson announces that he is set to play ten live concerts at the London O2 Arena in July, which he announced at a press conference at the London O2 Arena. A trial scheduled to begin Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2012 will determine how much a businessman working with Katherine Jackson will have to pay her son?s estate for infringing some of its copyrights. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)

FILE - In a March 5, 2009 file photo US singer Michael Jackson announces that he is set to play ten live concerts at the London O2 Arena in July, which he announced at a press conference at the London O2 Arena. A trial scheduled to begin Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2012 will determine how much a businessman working with Katherine Jackson will have to pay her son?s estate for infringing some of its copyrights. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 file photo, Michael Jackson follows his mother, Katherine Jackson, as they arrive for court on the opening day of his child molestation trial at Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, Calif. A trial scheduled to begin Tuesday September 6, 2012 will determine how much a businessman working with Katherine Jackson will have to pay her son?s estate for infringing some of its copyrights. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Jackson's estate and a businessman working with the singer's mother settled a copyright infringement lawsuit for $2.5 million on Tuesday, shortly before a trial in the case was scheduled to begin.

The settlement also restricts Howard Mann and his companies from using Jackson's likeness without permission in the future. It ends a year and a half of legal fighting over Mann's use of Jackson's name and likeness on a website used to promote unreleased songs, photographs and a book written by Katherine Jackson filled with recollections of her superstar son.

Mann is the CEO of Vintage Pop Media, which operated the website www.michaeljacksonsecretvault.com until it was ordered shut down last month by a federal judge who ruled the site violated copyrights controlled by the singer's estate.

Under the terms of the settlement, announced in court by estate attorney Zia Modabber, Vintage Pop Media Group is responsible for $2 million of the judgment, while the entity Vintage Associates LLC is responsible for the remainder. Vintage Associates is the custodian of the items that were at issue in the case.

Mann's attorney, Lee Durst, declined comment after the hearing. "The estate is delighted this matter is behind us," estate attorney Howard Weitzman said.

Among the items that had been improperly used were images from Jackson's posthumous film "This Is It" and a silhouette of the singer dancing in "Smooth Criminal." The settlement also blocks the usage of materials from "Thriller" that had appeared on Mann's website.

A jury trial on how much Mann owes the estate had been scheduled to begin Tuesday, with an expert estimating a license for the works is worth between $5 million and $12 million.

Mann's attorneys rejected a settlement offer last week of $2 million. They sought to introduce evidence that they were given bad legal advice about having to license the works and have considered calling Katherine Jackson as a witness. The Jackson family matriarch is one of the beneficiaries of the singer's estate, along with his three children.

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson has noted that Mann doesn't appear to have the resources to pay a large judgment. The defendants' ability to pay was not discussed in court on Tuesday.

__

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-04-Jackson-Estate/id-8e44f44a2da24b469ab6fef8aedc551a

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US Airways adds second daily nonstop to Washington National

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Small businesses are hiring. 4 ways to get noticed.

Private employment growth is picking up as small business look for qualified candidates to fill key positions. Here are four ways to get a company's attention

By Brandon Ballenger,?Contributor / September 3, 2012

In this July 25 file photo, job seekers visit a Primerica booth at a job fair in San Jose, Calif. Small businesses are starting to hire again, and playing to what they want can give you a leg up in the hiring process.

Paul Sakuma/AP/File

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More than a third of small business owners say they?re ?somewhat or significantly understaffed? ? and 1 in 5 will be hiring soon.

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According to the latest government jobs?report, the overall unemployment rate is at 8.3 percent. Private employment growth was better than expected, with businesses adding 163,000 jobs in July. That?s the strongest growth in the past five months.

If you?re part of the 8 percent and would like to become part of next month?s job growth numbers instead, it?s important to know what employers are looking for.

TD Bank quizzed more than 500 small business owners for a recent survey and asked about their biggest hiring challenges. Their responses?

• Finding new qualified candidates (42 percent)
• Training existing employees (23 percent)
• Offering competitive compensation (22 percent)
• Laying off inadequate employees (8 percent)
• Continuous employee turnover (5 percent)

Less than 10 percent of these owners plan to?lay off?workers this year, while 21 percent plan to hire.

Now let?s convert the challenges of those doing the hiring into advice for those looking to be hired?

1. Show your skills

The top worry employers have is finding qualified candidates, and their second-highest concern is training them. That?s the same issue a CareerBuilder survey of 2,600 employers found last fall. Pay special attention to the skills employers are seeking in your field right now. If you have them, play them up on your resume and in interviews. If you don?t, consider brushing up. There are lots of places that offer free job training, including employment centers.

2. Settle for less, for now

Also a big concern is competitive pay ? so it might be to your advantage to stress to employers that salary and benefits are secondary to getting a foot in the door. Once you can start proving yourself ? and the economy starts picking up more ? you?ll be able to negotiate the raise you deserve.

3. Check with bigger employers

If small businesses aren?t hiring, go big. According to a CareerBuilder survey from this time last year, companies with more than 500 employees were 10 percent more likely to hire and make new jobs permanent.

4. Look for seasonal work

If job prospects aren?t looking good by the end of August, start checking with companies that typically add jobs for the holidays. Temporary work is better than no work, and if you make a good impression you might get hired permanently.

Brandon Ballenger is a writer for Money Talks News, a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities as well as around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/50lri6LgzCQ/Small-businesses-are-hiring.-4-ways-to-get-noticed.

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The 7 Deadly Sales Sins Committed By Startups

Editor's note:?Steli?is the Co-Founder / Chief Hustler of?ElasticSales?and an advisor to several startups and entrepreneurs. You can follow Steli on Twitter?here.< At ElasticSales, we?ve had the honor to create and run sales campaigns for some of the hottest Silicon Valley startups today. We?ve also consulted with dozens more each week to learn the challenges their sales team face. We realize we can?t work with every startup just yet, but we have seen the same, avoidable mistakes made by many young companies as they conduct their sales campaigns. Below are ?7?Deadly Sales?Sins? committed by many startups today. Some of these may sound familiar to you, but by identifying and address these mistakes, you will help your company succeed.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/K2Sv3_RZMRI/

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Kari Calder a Trusted Saskatoon Realtor and a Saskatoon Real Estate

The decision to purchase your home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make, and will also be one of your largest investments. Done right, it can also be one of the most exciting and fulfilling times in your life! Kari Calder a saskatoon Realtor with Century 21 Fusion is there to help you through the process, and provide you and your family with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you have a realtor working with your best interests in mind.

Read some examples of what Kari's clients have to say about working with her as their Trusted Saskatoon Realtor here?

Here she sahres her thoughts on what it takes to be a successful Saskatoon Realtor

I often have aquaintances (I won?t say friends as they know how hard I work), clients, university students, and people from the public ask me about my job and they all wonder if they could also be a real estate agent in Saskatoon. I have some answers below.

Q.Can almost anyone out there get their real estate license?

A. Yes

Q.Is it hard to get your license?

A.Not really if you know how to study.

Q.Is it hard to be a real estate agent in Saskatchewan?

A.Yes and no.

Q.Is it hard to be a successful real estate agent in Saskatoon?

A.Yes. The reasons are many and I will outline some below.

1. Anyone who has some book smarts can probably get their real estate license (but we do get fingerprinted so felons need not apply!) but not everyone can live the life of a Realtor? or find success in this lifestyle. It is one of the few careers out there that is also a lifestyle as we don?t leave our work at the office on Friday afternoon and pick it up again Monday. Not if you want to be successful that is.

2. One of the keys to being a successful real estate agent in Saskatoon and in general is to truly love what you do. I am passionate about helping people sell homes in Saskatoon as well as helping people buy a house for sale in Saskatoon?and condos for sale in Saskatoon of course as that is a large percentage of what I sell. For me, in general, what I do is not work (okay, I lied, the keeping up with the paperwork part IS work, but meeting people, showing houses for sale in Saskatoon, and helping people achieve their dreams is not work!)

3. A Realtor? in Saskatoon must be prepared to answer their phones from 7:30am until sometimes midnight if they have a deal on the go (if they have an offer on one of their houses for sale in Saskatoon or they are helping a person buy a house for sale in Saskatoon). I have had to run to the office at 11pm on more than one occasion to meet a client to get them their dream home as there was another offer on the table and they wanted that particular house for sale in Saskatoon. Successful Realtors? in Saskatoon do not turn their phone off Friday afternoon and leave their clients high and dry until Monday. Successful Realtors? in Saskatoon are prepared to hop in their car to meet their clients at a house for sale in Saskatoon the minute we see it may be ?the one? for their clients.

4. There is a lot of competition for Realtors? in Saskatoon. There are a lot of agents in the industry now and they are younger and eager. We also compete with for sale by owners and discount brokerages.

Q. I love looking at houses on MLS?, should I become a Realtor? in Saskatoon?

A. MOST people love looking at houses on MLS?! It is a fun past time and one of the most visited websites in the world. That isn?t what being a real estate agent in Saskatoon is all about. It is having the personality, business sense, work ethic, drive, lack of a life at times, and ability to say ?next? when people you have come to trust disappoint you and ditch you as their Saskatoon Realtor? if you don?t pick up your phone one time when they call. It can be upsetting when you spend countless hours, evenings, weekends with people only to have them buy from another agent when you are unavailable for an hour.

Q. Do you get paid an hourly wage?

A. No. It is strictly commission so the comment above about spending hours, evenings, days, etc with people and then not getting paid in the end can be a hard pill to swallow.

?Q. Is it a safe career?

A. Personal safety is always a concern in this industry. A Saskatoon real estate agent was attacked a few years ago and women in particular are the targets of unwanted attention and inappropriate phone calls at times.

Q. Is there any job security?

A. No, if you don?t work you don?t get paid. You have to seek out clients.

Q. Is there disability, health care, etc?

A. It depends on which company you work for but it is paid for by the real estate agent.

Q. Can you get a pension?

A. No, you are self employed, a contractor.

Kari Calder Saskatoon Real Estate Agent

Century 21 Fusion

kari@saskatoonrealestate.net

?

?

Kari Calder is one Saskatoon's top Century 21 Fusion real estate agents. Kari can assist with all of your Saskatoon buying and selling real estate needs and she is a TRUSTED SASKATOON REALTOR

Source: http://www.trustedsaskatoon.com/blog/post/2012/09/02/Kari-Calder-a-Trusted-Saskatoon-Realtor-and-a-Saskatoon-Real-Estate-expert-shares-a-Tip-on-being-a-realtor.aspx

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Obama turns to technology during convention

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

President Barack Obama greets the crowd during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

President Barack Obama smiles during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at the Living History Farms Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? When the Democratic Party's national convention opens this week, President Barack Obama's target audience won't be in the crowd. It will be the small sliver of undecided voters in battleground states who will be critical to the outcome of what the polls show is a tight race with two months to go.

Obama's campaign will turn to technology to get some of those voters engaged in the convention. The campaign will stream the entire event online, incorporate voter comments into the feed, and have convention attendees interact electronically with those watching on the Internet and mobile devices.

It's an attempt to recapture the Obama team's insurgent, grassroots appeal from 2008, when the campaign set new standards for using technology in politics. The high-tech engagement also helps the campaign capture data on voters that can be used for registration drives and get out the vote efforts.

Targeting Hispanics, the convention will be streamed online simultaneously in Spanish. Obama is hoping his sizeable advantage over Republican rival Mitt Romney with Hispanics will help him win key battleground states in the West, as well as Florida and Virginia.

Republicans also streamed much of their convention on YouTube, though the feed was not interactive.

The move to online streaming comes as television networks cut back on their convention coverage. TV viewership was down during last week's Republican convention; about 30 million people watched Romney's acceptance speech, compared to 40 million who saw Sen. John McCain accept the GOP nomination in 2008.

Starting Tuesday, a parade of high-profile speakers will stand on a blue-carpeted stage in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena to vouch for Obama's economic agenda, which his team says is focused on the middle class: ending tax cuts for the rich and reducing the debt, while spending more on education, energy and infrastructure.

Several voters ? called "American Heroes" by Obama's team ? also will speak at and appear in videos at the convention, putting a human face on Obama's program.

The Democratic National Convention starts less than a week after Republicans gathered in Tampa, Fla., to nominate Romney as the party's presidential candidate. Democrats hope that by holding their convention second, Obama can emerge with momentum on his side as the race for the White House bounds into its final stretch.

Obama will largely be responsible for generating that momentum. He will close the convention Thursday night with a speech in an outdoor football stadium, just as he did in 2008. Mindful of the comparisons to four years ago, Obama's campaign is scrambling to ensure that the 74,000-seat stadium is filled to capacity. The largest crowd Obama has drawn during the 2012 campaign is about 14,000 people, far less than the jaw-dropping crowds he attracted in the 2008 campaign.

Aides say Obama won't ignore the economic woes that have defined his four years in the White House. But they say he plans to focus largely on the future, and why he believes his policies will succeed in a second term.

Obama isn't expected to outline any new policy proposals. Instead, he plans to make the case for continuing what he has started. And he is expected to double down on agenda items, such as immigration and tax reforms, that gained little traction during his four years in office.

"When the convention is over, folks with be left with a clear road map of where he thinks America needs to go," said Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager. "And it will be clear what his focus will be in an Obama second term."

Working against Obama: the nation's 8.3 percent unemployment rate, sluggish economic growth and fears the economy could slip back into a recession.

There's also a general malaise. An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted earlier this month showed 60 percent of registered voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction, while just 35 percent say it is heading in the right direction.

The convention opens Tuesday with first lady Michelle Obama, whose popularity far surpasses her husband's, as a featured speaker. San Antonio, Texas, Mayor Julian Castro also is slated for that night. He will be the first Hispanic to deliver the Democratic convention's keynote address. Their roles on the convention's opening night are part of Democrats' efforts to shore up support among women and Hispanics, two crucial voting blocs where Obama holds an advantage over Romney.

Mrs. Obama is expected to make the case that Obama is the best candidate to advocate on behalf of the middle class because he has experienced their struggles himself.

Many voters already have heard Mrs. Obama's stories about her husband being raised by a single mother and his grandparents or having struggled to pay off student loans.

But she is emphasizing them again in this campaign in hopes of drawing a contrast with Romney's privileged upbringing.

Polls show voters think Obama understands the economic issues that are important to them better than Romney, even though the Republican has an edge on who voters believe is better suited to manage the economy.

Former President Bill Clinton, who is emerging as one of the campaign's most effective surrogates, will headline the convention Wednesday and formally nominate Obama. He hopes to remind voters of the flush economy he presided over and make the case that Obama's policies will lead to similar results.

Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry will address the large stadium crowd Thursday night before Obama speaks.

Kerry, seen as a potential second-term secretary of state under Obama, will try to capitalize on the Democratic Party's rare advantage on national security issues. He is expected to trumpet Obama's decision to order the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and the president's plan to end the Afghanistan war, a sharp contrast to Republicans who rarely mentioned the war during their convention or the tens of thousands of troops still engaged in combat.

Obama's young daughters start school in Washington next week and are not expected to have a formal role at the gathering. But they could come to Charlotte Thursday night for their father's acceptance speech.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-02-Obama's%20Convention/id-36389259d1a547d2a9d6b73d2ac3f350

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Does Your Relationship with Money Affect Your Relationship with ...

Gain Perspective on Financial Planning. Investments. Your Future.

Profile Perspectives is a personal finance blog based on articles Doug Goldstein, CFP?, director of Profile Investment Services, Ltd., published in The Jerusalem Post. The information posted is purely informational and does not constitute investment or tax advice. Advertisements on the site are neither endorsements nor recommendations. Consult your professional advisors before making any investments based on articles or advertisements.

Source: http://profileperspectives.com/does-your-relationship-with-money-affect-your-relationship-with-your-spouse/

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