Which ones? Well if you are reading this article you already know one of the most prominent ones. If you ask any professional working on digital marketing what is the most valuable online asset for a business, you’ll get pretty the same answer. Content. And what are the top 3 the most valuable professionals? Writers/Copywriters will certainly be an answer. 

For writers and copywriters this is their opportunity to negotiate the terms of the work in all aspects, giving them the chance to achieve the thing many of us always wanted. Self employment, financial independence, flexible working hours and work from anywhere is at the reach of their hands. And this is how we see the online freelancing professional blooming.  Such freedom though, comes with certain responsibilities, skills and knowledge that a freelance writer should acquire to be successful. For that preparation and self- education is fundamental. 

The most important element of a freelance writer’s job is to write original articles that the readers will find interesting enough to read. The second one is to get ownership of their copyright, know their rights under the copyright laws and how to protect them. 

What is original work? 

According to the copyright laws, a work that has required significant mental activity to create, and is, therefore, considered original, automatically becomes its creator’s intellectual property. 

Recent studies reveal that there are over 5 billion blogs and 7 million blog posts are published every day! Such a thing leaves you wondering, are we honestly creating so much original content on a daily basis? Obviously no. 

Every writer is aware of the practises out there to plagiarize or citate content from other authors, either because they’ve done it, or because they have seen it done to them, or both. Both practises though can be copyright infringement cases, meaning you are not producing an original work, thus not entitled to copyright over it. 

To make sure you are creating a work entitled to copyright, you need to make sure your article is not infringing on someone else copyright, and that you have actually created an original work. To do that, remember two things

1. You should be mindful of how to use someone else’s work. If you just change a few sentences and don’t give credits to the author, you are plagiarising. 
2. In case you use work from another author, the best practise is to add a citation. Now if you use too many citations in your work, it’s not original anymore.   

To be certain that you are creating original work, use other authors’ work for inspiration and spend more time to work the outline of your piece to express your point of view. That’s the reason why you became a writer in the first place right?

What is copyright?

Otherwise known as “author’s right,” copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their intellectual property. Copyright means “the right to copy,” therefore, only the creator – or people permitted by the creator – have the right to reproduce the work.

As a creator of original work, you are awarded copyright automatically when you produce a work that is in a tangible form (i.e. blog post, article, social post, etc.). However, registering your copyright gives you additional legal protection. This is because you may need to provide proof of ownership (or strong evidence of it) in a court of law when someone uses, copies, or distributes your work without permission.

And now what?

At this point, you have created your original work, got proof of ownership for it and now as the rightful owner you are ready to go secure a sale for it. This point is critical for you as you need to understand the rights you have over your work to negotiate a beneficial deal for you. Read carefully the contracts passed to you by your collaborators or self publishing services or even social media and DO NOT give away the ownership of your copyright. 

Work for Hire

When signing a work for hire contract you are passing all the ownership of your copyright to the person who hired you. This practically means that you can no longer make any decisions or negotiate deals and income for your work. This is the reason why most of the people interested in your work would like you to do, so they can benefit from your work as rightful owners. And this is exactly why you should avoid it. 

First & Secondary serials rights

To unlock the benefits of passive income first and secondary serials rights are two terms that you should familiarize yourself with. 

As the owner of the work when closing a deal, you should make sure that you’ve only just agreed on the right to publish, and have not sold your rights to your article or piece.

To put it simply, this means that your collaborator has paid for the right to publish your original work for the first time in a specific location. 

And at this point, you are able to unlock the passive income deriving from your secondary serial rights. As the rightful owner,  you can modify, adapt or alter in any way you see fit in order to re-sell and publish your article or piece generating income from your original work. 

To sum up, to live the dream of self employment and financial freedom, you have to educate yourself on the copyright laws and the rights you have as a creator of original work.  Be very careful on the terms of your agreement to make sure you are not passing your rights over to someone else, as you will be passing over all rights to generate income from it too. 

Here is what you should know getting started: 

1. A logo can be protected by both copyright and trademark, depending on how it is used.
2. A logo copyright protects a creative design or an expression of an idea, while a logo trademark protects things that identify a business on the marketplace. 
3. As a designer this means that you can copyright protect your logo design the moment you create it. Note thought, that if you are creating it on contract for hired work, the copyright belongs to the person who hired you to create it. Registering a copyright for a logo you create can be of great importance when you are presenting a client ideas before signing a contract with them, as you can claim your rights if the client decides to take your creation and create a contract with another designer to finalise your original idea. In this case as the copyright owner you can claim your damages or payment for your work. 
4. As a business owner, make sure you obtain copyright ownership over the logo of your business using a contract for hired work with them. Whether you choose to trademark your logo or not, having copyright over it, will be crucial in case of a legal dispute. 

Having said that, let’s go see all the details around how logos are legally protected. 

Copyright © vs. Trademark ®

Copyright ©

Copyright, also referred to as “author’s right”,  is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their intellectual property. Any work that has required significant mental activity to create, and is, therefore, considered original, automatically  becomes its creator’s intellectual property and is awarded with copyright. However, according to the Berne Convention, the legal framework that governs copyright globally, the beneficiary of the work is the person who has the strongest and earliest proof of ownership of it. That’s exactly who has a registered copyright and proof of ownership is so important.

Trademark ®

According to WIPO (Worldwide Intellectual Property Organisation ), a trademark is a sign that can differentiate the goods or services of one business from those of another. Such signs can be, a word or a combination of words, letters, and numerals, drawings, symbols, three-dimensional features, non-visible signs such as sounds or fragrances, or color shades used as distinguishing features – the possibilities are almost infinite.

So, as it is clear by now, both copyright and trademark protect a logo. They just protect different aspects of it. Copyright protects things a company produces. Trademark protects things that identify a company to customers and distinguishes it against rivals. 

This is also the reason why  it’s not uncommon for larger corporations to protect their identity under both trademark and copyright.

Now you might be wondering why not all businesses protect their identity and logo under both trademark and copyright. One of the main reasons is the cost. Proof of copyright ownership can be obtained easily and at very low or zero cost if you are using a service like CopyrightsWorld. 

Trademark registration can be significantly more expensive than copyright. Prices can vary a lot, depending not only on the goods and services, but also on the country or region of the business. 

One more thing you should know is that a logo without copyright or trademark registration is still protected from what is known as “common law” which is a form of legal protection for the creator of a logo or phrase, created by a business or individual to identify themselves in their industry. Just because you don’t have a trademark or copyright on your logo, it doesn’t mean you are not protected. Someone using your logo without consent, constitutes an infringement on your intellectual property.

If you find yourselves in this situation remember that you can still protect your logo in court, but you must be able to provide proof of ownership. 

To conclude 

If you are a business owner we strongly suggest consulting with a lawyer about the best option between copyright or trademark, but no matter what your case is, obtaining proof of ownership over your logo and brand identity can be a significant game changer in a court. 

Copyright infringement of digital photos differs in important ways from infringement in the markets of  music and movies. 

Opportunities for photo infringement are numerous as an infringer need not actively log into a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to infringe; one need only right-click an image found via an online search. 

It is very interesting that some infringers are unaware of the fact that they are breaching someone’s rights, or that they have any legal obligation to pay for the use of a photo. Even if they do know that they have to pay, they don’t know how much and to whom. The second fact is that infringers are typically unaware of an image’s price at the time of infringement.

While some might advocate that it’s impossible to completely prevent digital photo infringement, there are ways to protect your photos and prevent or revert their unauthorised use. 

We have picked the top five most effective things you can do to retain full control of your work – and make sure you get fairly paid.

1. Get proof of ownership by registering your copyright

When you create an original work, you are automatically granted copyright of that work, which means you can decide how it is used and distributed. 

Even though it is not mandatory, copyright registration provides valuable legal protection. It makes it easier for other people to find your protected material, and also helps you  assert your legal rights by providing date stamped evidence of the exact or approximate creation date. It can help you mitigate the risk of expensive and timely litigation, whether you are a claimant or a defendant, as you have proof of ownership. Registration is essential if you ever find yourself filing or defending an infringement lawsuit and recommended for businesses and individuals alike, who wish to protect the inherent value of their work.

Read more about the importance of copyright registration explained by General corporate lawyer Harender Branch, from UK law firm Branch Austin.

2. Use a copyright notice

Displaying a copyright notice, such as ‘© All Rights Reserved,’ has not been a legal requirement in the US since 1989. It does, however, clearly identify you as the copyright holder, thereby decreasing the likelihood it will be used without authorization and bolstering legal evidence in the case that it is.

If your photo is used online without your consent, you can assume that the user knew that the photo was copyrighted. This is a very good example of how a copyright notice can help as evidence of ownership in case of legal dispute.

3. Watermark your work

A watermark is a very prominent way of protecting your work and showing evidence of copyright ownership but unfortunately not one you can fully trust. Watermarks can be removed with a series of photo editing software and apps. 

The best method to apply watermarks is that of randomised digital watermarking. This method is based on constantly changing the watermarks’ shape and design before being applied on your photo. While it is effective it enhances an already existing challenge with watermarks which is the final design. With randomised digital watermarking, you can’t have any control over the final result and its effects on your photo. 

4. Digital sign all your photos

A very good way to have a proof of ownership is by digitally signing all of your photos. If you use this method, you can control the final outcome of your photo since it does not affect the visual of your work. In simple words, a digital signature is a photo attribute that’s not visible on your photo, until someone downloads the file. 

Upon downloading it, the user has to either not use the photo or remove the signature by cropping it out. This is a very strong evidence of photo infringement as the user intentionally breaches copyright when cropping your signature out of the photo. 

5. Use an active protection & monitoring service

While all the ways described above could work, they require your time and energy and they still don’t cover one big need. Knowing who is using your work without your consent. The web is vast and you can’t always know who is infringing your right. 

Using a copyright protection and monitoring service, such as the one offered by CopyrightsWolrd, can make the protection of your rights much easier and efficient. When you upload your file you obtain indisputable evidence of copyright ownership in your email. Then with a simple click, you can add your files for infringement monitoring and receive reports when your rights are breached. 

This way you can be certain that your rights as a creator are protected and spend more time creating more of work than worrying about how to protect it. 

Conclusion 

Photo theft is a cruel reality enabled by the technology we all hold in our hands every day and while it can be hard to eliminate it, we can find new ways to protect our intellectual property by deterrenting potential attempts or acting on the ones that have already happened. 

The law that is our reference for answering this question is the Digital Millennium Copyright  Act (DMCA). DMCA is a 1998 United States copyright law that criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM). It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself. The DMCA’s principal was adopted by the European Union in the Electronic Commerce Directive 2000.

Google’s Transparency report which is compliant with the DMCA is mentioning over 5 billion Urls being delisted due to copyright infringement. Along with Google, most social media have their own services for copyright infringement and takedown requests.

When the aforementioned, do not cover your case, you can send a DMCA take down notice. 

What is a take down notice?

A DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice is a formal request by you as a copyright owner, to remove the infringed work from the website or property where it is used. 

If hosts and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) remove the content for which the take down notice was issued as soon as they are notified, the matter can be resolved. If not you should contact your lawyer or seek legal advice on how you should proceed. To do so, make sure that you have strong evidence of copyright ownership as you will need it when you engage in a legal dispute. 

When should you send a DMCA takedown notice?

You should be issuing a DMCA takedown notice if:

• You are the owner of the original work or you are authorized by the owner.
• There is no active license with the user for using  your work. This might be a good time to check on your expired licenses and whether your work was taken down upon expiration. 
• The infringer has not responded to your requests for properly licensing  your work. 
• You do not want to engage with the infringer.
• The person or business infringing your work is unlikely to pay for a license or compensation.

What do you want to achieve?

Like with all things in life, you should think about sending with a clear intention. Answer to yourself, “what do I want to achieve?” Do you simply want your work to be taken offline, or do you want to create a license and create an opportunity to increase your income? Is this a case from which you could claim damages?

Knowing what you want to achieve will allow you to decide upon the best course of action and get the desired outcome. 

Remember that visual and text based work is easily infringed since users  don’t need to log into a peer-to-peer file-sharing they can simply copy paste or right-click to download. As a result some infringers are unaware of the fact that work at state is protected by copyright laws, or that they have any legal obligation or even the possibility to pay for the use of it. You might be surprised how many people might be willing to license your work. 

If what you want is just your work to be taken down then go ahead and send  a takedown notice. But if you are interested in creating some new revenue sources, then you might want to aim for licensing. 

Conclusion 

Whatever you decide to do, one thing is for sure: You will need strong evidence of copyright ownership. And  you might want to do it as soon as you create your work before even sharing with anyone. Copyright basics still apply in the digital world. The person who wins is the one with the strongest evidence at the earliest time.  There are online copyright registration services available that help you do just that. There are some, like CopyrightsWorld, that also provide infringement monitoring services, that allow you to know when someone uses your work without permission. 

#1 Ideas can be copyright protected.

Ideas may be the most important part of being creative, but they can’t be “stolen” as they technically don’t belong to anyone. That’s the reason why they also can’t be copyright-protected. By “ideas,” I don’t mean patent ideas and inventions, of course, which also can’t be copyright protected. 

They can be trademarked and registered as patents. Either way, I think you know where I’m going with this: Many people can work on the same idea, and produce a totally different result. An idea can’t be copyright protected because it doesn’t mean much unless you put the work into making it a reality. An idea needs to become “tangible” for it to be copyright protected. 

The Pareto rule of 20/80 suggests that it’s 20% idea and 80% execution, and if you take a moment and think about it you’ll see that it’s true for you as well. 

An idea is conceived at the speed of light, yet an artist puts hours, days, and months into making that idea a reality. It is work and energy that make a creation significant – not the idea. 

Furthermore, the idea that inspires an artist to create a work of art can be dull or seem insignificant to others. 

We all have an unreasonable fear of sharing ideas and having them stolen. As far as I’m concerned, that actually limits creativity – and does not enhance it. 

#2 Copyright is automatic, so why register? 

Copyright is indeed “automatic”, but copyright registration is not. According to the Berne Convention, the legal framework that governs copyright globally, copyright is awarded automatically when a work is created after significant mental activity. 

However, the beneficiary of the work is the person who has the strongest and earliest proof of ownership of it. 

That’s exactly why registering a copyright is so important. It generates evidence about who the owner of the copyright is and when this copyright was claimed. 

Therefore, while timing is important, the proof of copyright also needs to be indisputable. Without registration, there is no evidence that can stand in a court of law when disputing ownership. 

#3 Copyright registration is useless, I’ve never used it in my life. 

Copyright registration is only “useless” if a creator considers their art a hobby. If they want to make a living, copyright registration is not only useful but necessary. It’s their ticket to generating revenue from their intellectual property. 

Having proof of copyright ownership over a creation allows an artist to claim damages in case of infringement, and perhaps most importantly, allows them to license their work – or even sell rights to it. 

An artist can own the copyright, but might not own the evidence of this ownership. When two artists claim to both own the copyright of a certain creation it will be one’s word against the other. 

And what happens when two people co-create a work of art, which then becomes famous? 

In the beginning, both are happy for the collaboration and proud of the work they created. They’re not thinking about what will happen if their work becomes a source of revenue for them. 

The story often ends in disagreement, lawsuits, and debates that take time, and are usually settled with compensation – and a significant amount in legal fees. 

All because there was no proof of copyright stating who the owner or co-owner is, and to what extent. 

#4 Copyright registration by sending it via mail or email to oneself. 

Sending yourself proof of ownership for your creation in a self-addressed envelope (or via email) is a way to gather evidence. It’s known as “poor man’s copyright,” as it’s very cheap. However, it’s also very weak, as it can easily be hacked and manipulated. 

The best way to acquire indisputable proof – if you don’t want to involve your lawyer –  is to trust a service like CopyrightsWorld, which has the technology to provide proof easily and reliably. 

Our platform uses blockchain technology to generate a Certificate of Ownership – an indisputable proof of ownership – allowing a creator to claim damages in case of infringement, or generate revenue by licensing rights. 

#5 Copyright registration is expensive and time-consuming. 

This claim was relevant some time ago. Copyright registration required a long bureaucratic process and a lot of paperwork needing to be filled. Less savvy people couldn’t even do it alone. 

This made the use of a lawyer – or a legal representative – necessary, adding significant cost to the process. 

It is not true anymore, and especially for digitally-created work. Furthermore, there are many very credible copyright registration providers out there that can provide you with a proof of ownership in minutes – and at a very affordable cost. 

We take pride in being one of those providers. We also go one step further, however. While we provide indisputable proof of ownership in just minutes, we can also help you monitor who uses your work, leading to possible revenue opportunities. 

To conclude, it’s very important for all creators to become more aware of their rights, find the most suitable ways to protect their work, and be able to make a living from it. 

To do so, they need to educate themselves further, believe in the value of their work, and take actions to protect their intellectual property. 

The digital era has come to provide opportunities to do this easily, reliably, and affordably. 

Bio 

Georgia is a digital marketing professional who has worked in content marketing for the past 8 years. Seeing copyright infringement take place in digital content, over the years, made her decide to join CopyrightsWorld – a platform that provides services for copyright registration, digital asset protection, and infringement monitoring – and work on offering creators ways to protect their works in the digital era. 

Sources: 

1. Different brain structures associated with artistic and scientific creativity: a voxel-based morphometry study,  https://www.nature.com/articles/srep42911 

Being intangible and non-material, intellectual property is easily stolen while creators are often oblivious or informed much later on. 

In the digital age, intellectual property is easily distributed on the web, and copyright infringement has become significantly easier. 

Furthermore, we are all creators these days. Technology has provided us with the tools to enable us to be more creative, and to produce much more intellectual property. 

We all post on our social media – our thoughts, pictures we take, videos we record. They are all products of our intellect. 

Professional creators and artists face even greater challenges to bring awareness and promote their work, they resort to using the web and social media. This exposes their work to the whole world. 

The importance of protecting your intellectual property is clear. 

It is your legal right. 

It’s your legal right as a creator to protect your intellectual property. Copyright laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and agreements like the Berne Convention, are created to protect your rights in the digital era. 

You have dedicated time, effort, and sometimes money, to create something – so why would you let anyone reap the fruits of your efforts? 

Piracy is everywhere, so take ownership of your work and be in a position to collect damages when your copyright is infringed upon. 

It can generate new business opportunities.

Intellectual property protection has great untapped potential to turn your creations into revenue sources. Registering your copyright can result in a steady stream of extra revenue, like royalties, for example. 

By safely sharing your creations with the world, you can find people who are interested in buying them. By knowing who  infringes upon your copyright, you can seek damages from them.. 

Sometimes, infringement comes from ignorance. On top of that you can easily transfer IPR making you a professional and adding credibility to your work.

In conclusion, protecting your intellectual property in the digital era gives you true ownership of your work and the opportunity to increase your income and benefit from the opportunities that the global marketplace offers.