🎙️ Listen to an eye-opening episode of the Hourly to Exit podcast with Erin, where she dives into protecting your expertise through copyright registration and contracts.

Key Takeaways:

1. Copyright registration isn't just a formality – it's essential for protecting your valuable assets such as training materials, presentations, videos, and workbooks. This alone can make a significant impact on maximizing the value of your intellectual property.

2. When it comes to safeguarding your intellectual property rights, clear contracts with clients and contractors play a vital role. It's all about ensuring that the ownership, use and re-use of your proprietary materials are clearly outlined and protected.

If you're looking to safeguard your expertise, this podcast episode is a must-listen! Check it out for more valuable insights into turning your expertise into recurring revenue. #IP

Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Hourly to Exit is Sponsored By:

This week’s episode of Hourly to Exit is sponsored by the NDA Navigator. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are the bedrock of protecting your business's confidential information. However, facing a constant stream of NDAs can be overwhelming, especially when time and budget constraints prevent you from seeking full legal review. That's where the NDA Navigator comes to your rescue. Designed specifically for entrepreneurs, consultants, and business owners with corporate clients, the NDA Navigator is your guide to understanding, negotiating, and implementing NDAs. Empower yourself with legal insights and practical tools when you don’t have the time or funds to invest in a full legal review. Get 20% off by using the coupon code “H2E”.  You can find it at www.protectyourexpertise.com.

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Imagine a clothing store

with untagged garments

stacked up in the back room.

How would you know if

you have a size in stock?

How would you

determine if there's

an

inventory loss?

How would you know what to

charge to make a profit?

Every day that you don't take

inventory of your assets is

like that clothing store.

You might be in breach

of client agreements.

With non compete provisions,

are subcontractors

taking your IP with them?

Once your confidential

information is shared

without an NDA in place,

there's no going home again.

Do you even own what

you think you own?

I posed these questions in the

last episode where I covered

the importance of auditing

the assets in your business.

It is the first step in

the three part framework

to turn your expertise

into recurring revenue.

Audit, protect and

leverage this week.

We're talking about

protecting your expertise.

Once you have a clear

understanding of your assets,

it's time to protect them.

There are 2 key methods

for safeguarding the most

valuable intellectual

property in your business.

Copyright registration.

and contracts.

We're going to dive into

the importance of copyright

registration in preserving

your valuable assets,

how contracts can either

protect or jeopardize your

intellectual property, and

crafting client and contractor

agreements to secure your

rights and limit your risks.

First copyright registration.

So why am I talking about

copyright registration?

And you'll never

hear me talking about

trademark registration.

Just as a quick reminder,

what are copyrights?

So copyright protects original

works created by a human that

contain a minimal amount of

creativity that's fixed in a

tangible medium of expression.

When you are the.

owner of copyrights, you

have the exclusive right to

reproduce the work, to make

derivative works based on that

work, such as modifications

or adaptations or new uses,

their exclusive right to

distribute copies of the

work, either publicly, for

sale or to license it and the

exclusive right to perform

or display the work publicly.

So, when we think about

protecting our work.

And we're worried about

competitors or former

clients stealing our stuff.

What are we talking about?

Everyone talks

about a trademark.

Do I need a trademark

to protect my ideas?

But contrary to popular

belief, it's not trademarks

that are going to protect

your most valuable work.

If you want to protect

those valuable assets, if

you want to protect your

money makers, copyright

registration is what you need.

Here's a little example.

Let's say you have an

HR consultancy and it

is called DiverCity and

that's C I T Y, DiverCity.

It's a little play

on words there.

Talent Solutions and it has

a trademark registration and

DiverCity, Talent Solutions

provides DEI training

to corporate clients.

Trademark protects the

business name DiverCity

Talent Solutions.

What does the

copyright protect?

It protects the training

materials, the videos,

your presentations, the

workbooks, the guides.

All those things are

protected by copyright.

Which one?

Provides the most

valuable to your clients.

Well, which one provides

any value to your clients?

In other words, which of

those assets does your

client pay you money for?

Do they pay you money

for your trademark?

Or do they pay you

money for those trading

materials for those videos?

It's the assets that are

protected by copyright that

they're paying you for.

Your corporate

clients care about the

transformation you provide.

If you're going to, turn

their disgruntled employees

to a well oiled machine.

That's what they're

paying you for.

And they don't get that

from your trademark.

They get that from your

copyrighted materials.

So that's what we

want to focus on.

now that we've settled on

copyrights over trademarks.

Why register the copyrights?

as we know, copyright

protection happens

automatically at the time

that it is put in that fixed,

tangible form of expression.

So, yes, it is automatic,

but there are significant

benefits to registering

the work with the U.

S.

Copyright Office.

And there are even greater

benefits if it is registered

before it is published,

it's considered published

after you make it available.

It's offered to the

public in some way.

So what extra protection do

we get from registration that

we don't get automatically

under copyright law.

One, it enables you to file

a lawsuit to enforce the

copyright in federal court.

If you want to.

use the court system to get a

remedy against an infringer.

It must be registered.

Also, when you have it

registered, it's evidence that

you have a valid copyright.

Let's say somebody

infringes your work, they

steal your work, and they

claim that they have the

valid copyright, not you.

If it's been registered,

well, that's a non issue.

And of course, it puts others

on notice that the work

is protected by copyright.

That you are the copyright

owner, and that you take your

rights in those materials.

Seriously, we don't register

everything, you you probably

wrote something today that you

posted on LinkedIn or are some

blog post or something that

you probably won't register.

And we'll put our C in

a circle, we'll use the

copyright notice of a C in

a circle on there, but we

don't register everything.

We want to register our

moneymakers because we want

to be able to enforce our

rights against infringers.

So what is the big

benefit that we get from

registering our copyright?

it is statutory damages.

So what are statutory damages?

They are a form of damages

that a court can award In

a lawsuit, but the damages

are set forth in by law,

like in the statute.

That's why it's called

statutory damages.

And so instead of trying

to figure out what the

actual harm is, what

profits were lost?

What are my actual damages?

That's a whole

separate process.

But when you have

access to statutory

damages, it's basically

like preset penalties.

And so when someone infringes

your work, you can just

look at the statute and say,

this is what they owe me.

It makes it much simpler

to get a remedy, much less

expensive since using lawyers

of course is expensive.

And much greater

deterrent because it's.

Kind of difficult sometimes

to approve actual damages,

but when you have statutory

damages, you don't have

to bring that proof.

And that means that it is

much, easier for you to

get a remedy and therefore

a greater deterrent to

potential infringers.

So, to be clear.

You can still protect your

work against infringement.

You can still go after

someone for damages.

if it's not registered

before publication.

So, if you have something

out there, that's already

been published and it

hasn't been registered,

but it is something that.

You would hire a lawyer to

protect your rights against an

infringer in a court of law,

then those are the things that

you want to have registered.

But you would have to

prove actual damages.

You'd have to say, I was

selling, 10 copies of this a

week at 500 a pop, and they

have been ever since they,

infringed it and, and started

selling it on their own.

I haven't had any sales

and therefore this is

what my damages are.

It's a little harder to prove

that than to be able to look

to the statute and just say,

they sold 50 copies of my

work and therefore these

are what my damages are.

So, what are those

statutory damages?

Well, it depends on

the gravity of the

infringement as well as

the infringer's intent.

So, for innocent

infringements, like, sometimes

we still things we don't even

realize That does happen.

Unintentional infringement.

We're our subconscious

remember something we think

it's original, but it is

actually infringement.

So, if you can show

that you weren't aware.

had no reason to believe

that wasn't infringement.

then the damages can be as low

as 200 per infringing, work.

but it can go up, if you

should have known, it

can go up from 750 to,

000 per work infringed.

And if it was willful

infringement, you absolutely

know, someone steals

your entire website.

And they start selling

it as their own.

And when you tell them

to stop doing it, they

don't stop doing it.

It's a willful infringement.

The damages can be as up to

150, 000 per work infringed.

So those are

statutory damages.

And these are some of

the benefits that you get

under intellectual property

law when you register

a work, as copyright

registration with the U.

S.

Copyright Office.

My contracts is the other way

that protect our copyrights

registration that helps us and

takes care of infringers, but

you know what, mostly people

don't just steal our stuff.

The number 1 way that

we lose rights in our

intellectual property is

by not using contracts.

Or signing contracts that

we do not understand.

All right.

So.

Intellectual property law

takes care of infringers,

but, most people don't

lose rights in their I.

P.

because of, infringers.

It's more likely that we

will lose control over

intellectual property.

Because we are not using

contracts or we're signing

contracts that we do not

understand, and that is

just a self inflicted wound,

unlike physical assets,

ownership of intellectual

property has nothing to do

with possession or whose idea

was, or even who paid for it.

If we want to make sure we

are maximizing the value of

our assets, we need to use

our contracts in order to

make sure that we control

that use and get paid for it.

Choose.

So we cannot skip

the contracts step.

We need contracts with

our clients to limit

their ability to reuse.

Or even distribute our

proprietary materials, and

we need contracts with our

contractors to make sure that

we have rights and everything

that they deliver to you.

So, when we think about our

client contracts, if you're

regularly signing contracts

provided by your corporate

clients, those agreements will

absolutely have language about

who owns the deliverables and

you want to make sure that

there is language in there.

So that you retain rights in

your preexisting property, if

they're coming to you, chances

are you have preexisting

property that they value.

What is the distinguisher

between you take

the HR consultant?

The difference between you

and another HR consultant will

probably be your preexisting

materials you have workshops

that you've developed

trainings that you've

developed guides that are more

effective than the next guys.

And that's why

they're coming to you.

And we want to make sure

that you are preserving

the rights in those works.

And if you're signing a

standard client agreement,

then you are endangering

your rights in those works.

Also, with our contractor

agreements, agreements that

we signed with people when

we are the client, we want

to make sure that we have the

rights, the ownership, and all

the things that they do for

us in the absence of a written

agreement that is signed and

not by email, but actually

signed, can be, you know, an

a signature, but something

that is enforceable signature.

Okay.

If we don't have that in

place, then the human who

created it still owns it.

So if someone is creating

something for you that you

will be, using with your

client, or you'll be using it

in your business to build some

assets on, you want to make

sure you own those things.

We want to make sure you

have contractor agreements

in place that are signed.

Signed agreements are the.

Only way to overwrite the

default provisions regarding

ownership and licenses under

intellectual property law.

So, if you don't have

signed agreements with your

clients, then your clients

may have an unlimited license

to use your preexisting

materials, if not own it.

So, those are the 2,

dangers and no agreements

with your contractors.

They may own some

very important piece.

Of your methodology or

framework now in an AI

world, we have even more

risks associated with oral

or unsigned agreements.

And again, I'm

including email in that.

If we don't have signed

agreements, we can't get

assurances regarding the,

work that is delivered

by our contractors.

We want to make sure that

we have representations from

our contractors regarding

the originality of what

they're delivering to us,

and that it does not infringe

any 3rd parties rights.

So, in our standard,

Contractor agreement, you will

want to have language that

says that contractors work

is original unpublished and

solely their own work product.

And that as delivered to

you and used by you, it

will not violate any laws

or violate any 3rd parties

intellectual property rights.

When we have someone using

AI, we don't get any of those

assurances when you use AI.

That is, know, buyer

beware, user beware

with regarding anything

that is generated by AI.

So if you have a contractor

where you care about

the originality and that

you have full ownership

of those deliverables,

you want to have.

The contractor agreement

in place, and you want

to have language in there

about whether or not they

can use a, if you don't

want your contractor to

use make sure the agreement

says that if you're okay

with the contractor using

some AI, so long as, it's

disclosed to you, then.

Make sure that's

in the agreement.

And most importantly,

always be mindful of how a

deliverable from a contractor

will be used so that you can

make sure that that agreement

includes all of those rights

that you have in there.

let's say you have an

agreement with a contractor

and they have language that

says I'm going to be using

my pre existing framework.

And it will say you as

the client can use it, but

you cannot, sub license

it to any third party.

But your intent was for

this to be used with

your own end client.

You have to make sure

that there's language

in there about that.

So the end result is.

Some we really want to make

sure that we don't end up on

the receiving end of a cease

and desist letter because

we don't get all the rights

from our contractors that

we need, that we don't end

up at the receiving end of a

cease and letter because we

have granted exclusive rights

and materials to one client

that we need to use with

other clients and, at best.

I wasted money.

Maybe you need

to refund money.

And at worst, you could end up

with an infringement claim and

you could have some permanent

damage to your reputation.

Certainly if you turn

in something to a client

that turns out that it was

created by AI, that could

be a real mess for you.

So we want to make sure

that that doesn't happen.

IP is everywhere

in particular, your

IP is everywhere.

So we want to make sure that

we use copyright protection

and we're using, contracts

to make sure that you own

it and that you control it.

So that brings us to the

third and final leg of

building a scalable and

saleable expertise based

business that is leverage.

So leverage means increasing

profitability, not just

increasing revenue.

what does that mean?

We have leverage

in our business.

If we can.

Increase our revenue without

increasing the cost to get

that revenue that increases

profitability, or we can

decrease cost without also

decreasing the revenue or both

in the best of both words.

that means we are applying

leverage so that we have a

more profitable business,

meaning there's more distance

between revenue and costs.

and yes, you can have

leveraged one on one services.

So if you want to find out

more, make sure you check

out the next episode of

the hourly exit podcast.

Thank you ladies.

And remember, IP is fuel.