How do you protect/license your creative concepts?
Hi everyone,
I am doing a little research on what is the best and easiest way to protect your IP when you create creative concepts for other companies.
Especially when working on a pitch as a freelance, it's hard to keep track and make sure your concept will not be used for other pitches without your knowledge, even if you watermark all presentation pages.
How do you protect your IP? Where do you register it?
thanks!
Replies6
- Hi Martina,On the top of the given good advices I would say be emotionally intelligent and look out for little signs how each company is treating you. Just as a basic example I personally don't do free pitched below an x amount as I feel it inapprorpiate and unfair. If someone is asking for free pitching below that line I know it's a red flag. By the end of the day it's way easier to search for the little signs than go to court against of a big agency. Hope it helps.
- @Tina Bernstein Thanks!
- @Matt Percival Thank you!
- Hi Martina, hope this helps. It can be remarkably simple: ensure anything you share or present as a document is locked, shared by password, view-only, and each page or slide is branded by you/your business, dated, has "© copyright and intellectual property of....+ date" in every footer.The old fashioned safeguard was to mail a hard copy of the presentation to yourself on the day it's created and keep it unopened, ready to hand over to your solicitor when proof of original IP is required.However, as an individual, you have very little protection in reality and have to rely on the moral scruples of the client commissioning the pitch, because a hard-nosed offender will rely on you not going to the expense and hassle of pursuing them through the courts. It's not even much easier for big businesses, very few have their own legal departments full of rottweilers whose sole purpose it is to hound breaches of IP down for every missed pitch.So the upshot is: make sure you trust your (prospective) client. On the whole, most people respect IP, because it's your mind they want to hire you for and because they want to be known as good clients. If you don't trust them, stay away.And please remember, once they've paid for your thinking, unless you expressly agree beforehand that you retain the rights to the words, ideas or concepts, or the subsequent work that will blossom from it, you've sold your IP to them without obligation, whatever that initial fee was. Make sure you agree a fee that ensures you're properly renumerated should your work be selected in a pitch. And if these things take on a new life beyond that point, you're in a position to be proud of what you achieved rather than disgruntled by what you missed out on.
- Martina, you can apply for a UK registered design. Depending how valuable it is to you, it costs around £50 for each design.Best people to speak to.Intellectual Property Office | Concept House | Cardiff Road | Newport | South Wales | NP10 8QQ | www.gov.uk/ipoIt's worth having a chat.
- This is something I would love someone to answer!
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