Are you a B2B professional services provider with corporate clients? Then this episode is for you. 

Join me on Hourly to Exit as we take a deep dive into why copyrights are more valuable than trademarks in our line of work.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Copyrights: The Essential IP Asset - Copyright protection defends the tangible expression of your expertise. These assets include training materials, marketing collateral, podcasts, speeches, and much more. Copyrights empower you to control the use of your expertise.
• Trademarks are Nice to Have but not essential - Trademarks are a tool for protecting your brand identity but are not nearly as powerful as having strong positioning.
• Maximizing Business Value - Copyrights offer you exclusivity and sustainability, the pillars of building a scalable and saleable service-based business. Intellectual property assets, such as copyrights, data, insights, tools, and processes, contribute significantly to the exclusivity and positioning of your business. Combine this with your niche expertise, thought leadership, brand, and reputation, and you have a winning formula to cement your unique position in the marketplace.

🎧 Tune in to "Hourly to Exit" and discover why copyrights take the lead in the intellectual property game, providing greater value and opportunities for growth in your professional services business.

Don't forget to check out the slides on our YouTube channel or LinkedIn profile for an immersive experience!

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/

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

Hello everyone, welcome to

this month's LinkedIn Live.

I do these every last

Wednesday of the month

at noon eastern, where I

answer your questions about

copyrights and contracts.

And so if you are listening

to this, um, there are Slides

that go along with this,

although you can absolutely,

get all the value from this

episode by listening to it.

But if you're curious, you

can see the slides on my

YouTube channel, or also

on my LinkedIn profile.

So this month, we are talking

about why copyrights are more

valuable than trademarks.

Now, this is my opinion.

Of course, I imagine a

trademark lawyer would

have a different opinion,

but my point of view is

specifically with respect to

the B2B professional services

provider who has corporate.

Clients, and so are concerned

a little bit different than,

say, a Pepsi or a FedEx

or even, an IBM, right?

we are going to talk about.

they are different how

they are same and how

they will work together.

So 1st and please feel free to

put comments in the, chat box.

if it doesn't throw me off

too much, I'll answer them.

But if not, I'll

wait until the end.

I've gone both ways.

so copyrights versus is

1 is if they're battling

against each other, but

aren't that was just.

Because I like the

image because they

really do work together.

As, you know, I'm a huge fan

of service based businesses of

experts, creating intellectual

property assets, because

they're very important value

builder in your business.

And so they, aren't

mutual exclusive.

We will have copyrights

and trademarks throughout

both in our businesses,

probably, but I will be.

Making an argument, of

course, that, the copyrights

are the more valuable

and the more essential

intellectual property

assets in your business.

1st, to talk about what

does copyright protect

versus what trainer.

Protects copyright protects

the original expression of

something intangible form.

what we write in a

book, what we paint on a

painting, what we record

in a song or on video, what

we create in a graphic.

So those things that we take

an original idea, and we make.

work out of it.

those things that have to be

human, of course, are eligible

for copyright protection.

you may know that copyright

protection attaches at

the moment that that

original work is created.

there is an extra step of

registration if you want to

enforce the copyright against

a third party infringers,

but you do have that

copyright protection from the

moment that it is created.

Trademark and copyright

very importantly does

not protect ideas.

Trademark protects our

reputation, our brand.

It tells, the world, the

consumer specifically.

What the origin of a good

or service is, I used

examples of IBM and FedEx.

When we see those

trademarks, we know

exactly who's delivering

our package or where our

office machine came from.

I don't know.

What does IBM do now?

and so it protects, names.

Logos, even protect colors

like u p s, brown, and even

sounds like the N B C, chime.

and so that tells the world,

so that protects the origin

of a good or service, but

it does not protect content.

And so I'm gonna talk about.

An example today, where you

are, we are an HR consultancy.

The name of our business is

diversity talent solutions.

And yes, I did get

that from chat.

GBT.

and we provide DEI training

to corporate clients.

And so when we

have this business.

What do trademarks versus

copyrights protect for us?

copyright that protects all

of our training materials, any

videos that we've recorded,

scripts for our trainers,

workbooks, worksheets,

um, you know, webinars

that we put on.

These are all works.

That when they are original,

and we've put them in

tangible form, they are

protected by copyright.

All of our marketing

materials, the podcast that

we go on the speeches that

we give our LinkedIn posts,

our newsletter, our website,

all of those materials are

protected by copyright.

Work product, let's say we

are engaged to create employee

workbook for 1 of our clients.

And so it is copyright law

that will determine the

ownership and the rights.

that client, will have in

using that employee workbook.

So it could be that, you have

1 that you're just licensing

to them and that they can't

use it for any other purpose,

or it could be that you're

creating an original 1, just

for them because there's

something unique about

their office environment.

And they had some specific,

requests but it is copyright

that will determine the

ownership and the use or

reuse, or the creation

of derivatives of that.

work product, and let's

say you are the client.

Let's say you have

engaged a 3rd party to

help create your course.

you are the expert

in issues, but you're

not a course designer.

You're not an educate.

I think they're called.

Education designers, perhaps.

And so you've engaged one of

them to help you, with the

user experience, the flow and

everything of your course.

So you hire them.

It is copyright law

that will determine your

ownership rights in the

deliverables that course

designer creates for you.

So that's copyright.

On the trademark side, what

does trademark protect?

It protects the name

of your business.

And so, we can see that

there is a little bit

of a lopsided there.

So we're going to talk about

the value of copyrights.

In your business and the value

of copyrights to your clients.

first, in the context

of maximizing the

value in your business.

I talk about exclusivity

and sustainability.

I have, talked a great.

Deal about it in the context

of creating a business

that you can sell someday.

But the things that help you

create a business that would

be saleable are the same

things that help you build

a business that is scalable

and therefore increase the

value in your business.

So the two main pillars we

talk about when we're talking

about service based business

and maximizing the value

of it are the exclusivity

and the sustainability

of the business.

and within exclusivity,

we'll, take each and turn

exclusivity and sustainability

with exclusivity.

We have the 2 pillars of

assets and positioning.

Now, positioning is

technically an asset as

well, but I've set it up

this way to think about,

because assets are more

kind of solid, even though

they're intangible, they're

more solid than positioning,

which is a little bit harder

to kind of grasp, um, asset.

on the asset side and also

on the asset side, these

are things that can be

pretty cleanly assigned

to a 3rd party or is

positioning may or may not

be assignable to 3rd party.

So, your assets, your

intellectual property, which

we've talked about, we've

talked about the things in

our HR consultancy business

in this example, that are

protected by copyrights

or by trademarks data.

Would be a valuable asset

if you have data or research

that you have databases are

protected under copyright

law and any insights

that you draw for them.

You take your data and you

analyze it and you draw

insights from it and you

publish white papers or

use it in presentations.

Those insights are

protected by copyright.

And then the things we

use within our business

to make us more efficient

to maximize the value that

we provide to our clients.

We develop tools

and processes.

We may have, a

library of resources.

We may have

templates or models.

We may have methodology

and frameworks that we use.

We may have S.

O.

P.

S.

and even, those employee

handbooks are important

to make sure that we're

all working together.

and so those may or may not

be, under copyright law.

Copyright does not

protect methodologies.

It does protect

the expression.

So someone can't

literally copy your S.

O.

P.

S.

but they can read them and.

use them as their own.

but still, these are assets

that provide value in our

business, depending on

how developed they are,

they would be protected

under copyright law.

they are not protected

under trademark law.

And then our positioning,

our expertise, know, what we

do, our niche, who we serve,

the thought leadership, where

we combine this to add value

to the conversation, about.

Who we serve and how we do

it and, of course, our brand

and our reputation, all these

combine to create our unique

position in the marketplace.

Excuse these are.

protected by a combination

of copyright and trademark,

you our thought leadership,

all the content we create

our presentations or speaking

gigs, all of that webinars

our thought leadership is

protected by copyright law.

And, of course, our

brand would be protected

with a trademark.

and we can, of

course, have both.

Of I've created a

copyrightable, work in the

form of this presentation.

And here I have, I don't know

if you can see it against

this light background, but

I have my copyright line

here, the C in a circle

2023, Aaron Austin Law, PLC.

the law firm is my official

business entity, but my

brand is think beyond I.

P.

and I have this little, I.

P.

guy in a box who is,

part of my, trademark

with think beyond I.

P.

Now, for me, personally,

I have not registered

a trademark, for think

beyond AP, we'll tell

you why in a minute.

And so that is

exclusivity pillar.

Sustainability is

the other pillar.

The ability to,

continue regardless

of what is happening

with you as the owner.

So, if you are the only

person who's driving sales,

driving revenue, doing all

the things, your business is

on the less sustainable end.

Versus if you have some

independence and there is some

independence in your business

from you for making sales,

for driving revenue, then

it becomes more sustainable.

And it is a continuum.

for those of you who have

questions about that,

I do have a assessment

about where you are on

that, sustainability,

to continuum 'em.

And, you can find

that on my website.

I'll have that at the end.

And so the things that would,

Promote sustainability are

leverage leverage is where

you have an input, but

that the output from it is

magnified from the input.

say, in making an investment

in creating a product, we

put in that investment in

the front end, but then we

can sell it multiple times.

And so its impact is

magnified from the input.

And so generally that involves

either, the creation of tools.

It doesn't have to be

something you sell.

It can be the creation

of tools to make

you more efficient.

and, something that's product

ties that you're doing over

and over again and again,

you know, you can continue

to create that value for your

client, less expensively and

then, Your business model,

do you have a 1 to 1 custom

business model, which hard

to create efficiencies or

do you have some variety

of your business model?

So you have some things

that are 1 to several,

like, a mastermind or

group program, or 1 to many

in the form of a course.

Or a book, you don't need

to have all those things.

And I don't want

anyone to think that.

but there's more than 1

way than just having 1

on 1 custom services to

create sustainability in

your business, even just

having a systematized,

service that you can help

peel off pieces of it.

Like, you know, that.

X needs to be done, or you

have a starting point from

a template, or, you know,

that there is this piece

that doesn't involve me.

I can use a contractor for

this, or I can even use

technology for this to help

make the delivery of that 1

on 1 service more efficient.

And then protection, that is

the form of our contracts.

are we using contracts

effectively so that when we

have deliverables from our

contractors, we have work

product we're delivering

to our clients that we

make sure that we're still

owning and controlling the

rights that flow from those

deliverables and again,

that is Copyright and that's

copyright protection that

you get with those contracts.

typically for the expertise

based business, there's

always going to be

exceptions, but these are

just the typical cases.

So that is the exclusivity,

sustainability to create

the most value in our

businesses for ourselves.

What about the value

to our clients?

I hate to call it this,

but it is a little bit,

the trademarks are a little

bit of a vanity piece.

Now it's not that it's

unimportant that your clients

not be able to tell you

apart from your competitors.

It is important that your

clients can tell you apart

from your competitors, but

is the value to your clients.

In your trademark, or is

the value to your clients

in the transformation?

You provide the outcome

that they get from you.

That doesn't come from your

trademark that comes from.

The training you provide the,

research that you have the

insights that you have the

process that you have all

those things that provide

the outcome that your clients

are paying you for that will

provide the outcome that your

clients will rave about that

will provide the outcome that

will cause your clients to,

refer you on to other people.

it is not.

The trademark and so making

sure we're focusing on the

outcome of providing to

our clients and not, know,

how cute our trademark

may or may not be.

would your client.

be just as happy with you

with a different name.

And I'm going to argue that

it would be now, even though

I have obviously come to the

conclusion that copyrights,

are greater than I don't

know if that's the right

thing, but copyrights have

more value in your B2B,

expertise based business.

When you have

corporate clients.

it doesn't mean

that trademarks.

Thanks.

Are unimportant.

They are important,

but they don't really,

challenge the value of the

copyrights in your business.

we want to be able to be

distinguishable from our

competitors, but that

shouldn't be because we

have such a cool trademark

that should be because

of the work we are doing.

In our industry, getting out

there, speaking, writing,

showing our expertise, having

satisfied clients, getting

those testimonials LinkedIn.

That's the way we

distinguish ourselves.

You know, having

the positioning.

I could go back to

the positioning slide.

Those are the ways

that we create.

our unique positioning

and the trademark is

the cherry on top.

I put it this way, like,

unless you have something

to rave about, trademark

doesn't mean anything because

the trademark just attaches

to the value of the result.

So, the value of the

result has to come before

the trademark, then the

trademark, of course, and

say, okay, the value comes

from this trademark, but 1st.

You have to establish the

value and so some of you

may have many resources.

If you have limited resources,

then make sure you're

focusing on copyrights.

and then the trademarks are.

nice to have, but

not a must have.

and, I am not a trademark

lawyer and I will say on

behalf of my trademark,

lawyer colleagues that they

will say this that if there

is a trademark that it would

just hurt you in your soul.

If somebody else got it

and took it from you,

then get it registered.

but if there is another

term that could.

work just as well, almost

always there is, then,

focus on making sure you're

creating value for your

clients, becoming the go

to person in your space.

if you are serving

corporate clients,

they know who you are.

They're not Googling you.

they're not going off of.

know, how many, SEO, right?

that's warm introduction

sales and all the things

that require, getting to

build your reputation.

So that is what I

have for you today.

I don't see any comments

in the comment box.

I'm happy to.

Take any questions

if you have them

and if you don't, you can find

out, some of the things that I

mentioned are things that are

probably copyrightable because

not everything that we create,

not all the content we create.

Is copyrightable and so I

have created an assessment, a

free assessment tool that will

determine whether or not your

expertise is copyrightable.

please feel free to go to

my website, thinkbeyondip.

com and there you can

sign up, for my newsletter

and for podcast updates.

And you will also get your

expertise copyrightable.

Assessment, thank you

all for joining me.

if you have any questions,

just shoot them to me, either

on LinkedIn or I think beyond.

I.

P.

Aaron, I think beyond.

I.

P.

dot com and I will hope

to address them in the

next LinkedIn live.

Thanks so much.