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Episode 60

E60: Is Your Expertise Copyrightable?

Join me this week as we dive into the topic of "How to Copyright Your Expertise," where I share valuable insights into the copyright registration process.

In case you're wondering what to expect from the episode, here are the three key takeaways for you:

  • Copyright Registration Process: I walk us through the step-by-step process of copyright registration, from confirming the copyrightability of your work to submitting the application and required documents. Learn how long it takes to receive confirmation from the Copyright Office and what can affect the timeline.
  • Copyrightability: Discover the intricacies of what makes a work copyrightable. I discuss exceptions and how even ordinary objects or ideas can become extraordinary and copyrightable, using examples like Andy Warhol's art.
  • Copyrighting Your Materials: Find out why it's important to prioritize copyrighting materials with everlasting value, as well as the importance of identifying the key value that clients pay for.

Remember, this episode is just the beginning! If you have any questions or specific topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes, please feel free to reach out and let us know. We're always here to help you protect their expertise through copyrights and contracts. 💪💼

Be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss a single episode! 🎧

Resources Mentioned:

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

Transcript
Erin Austin:

Hello, welcome to this month's LinkedIn Live.

Erin Austin:

if you haven't been here before, I'm Erin Austin, founder of Think Beyond ip.

Erin Austin:

And I do these LinkedIn lives every, last Wednesday of the month.

Erin Austin:

So whether they're four Wednesdays or five Wednesdays in

Erin Austin:

a month, I There's five, right?

Erin Austin:

they're on the last Wednesday of the month at noon Eastern.

Erin Austin:

and so these are also recorded as podcast episodes.

Erin Austin:

for those of you, I know some people who could make it today.

Erin Austin:

you can find the recordings on my LinkedIn live profile and they're

Erin Austin:

also, Audio on, hourly to exit And the video you can find on my YouTube panel.

Erin Austin:

And so this month we're talking about, how to copyright your expertise.

Erin Austin:

These LinkedIn lives are about how I help experts, protect their expertise

Erin Austin:

through copyrights and contracts.

Erin Austin:

you should know that I do take requests.

Erin Austin:

always feel free to, send your questions to me.

Erin Austin:

And if I think they'd make a great LinkedIn live, then.

Erin Austin:

We shall have a LinkedIn live about it.

Erin Austin:

So, let's get started At the end of this, of course there will be time

Erin Austin:

for you to, ask your questions.

Erin Austin:

Typically, I like to keep these to half an hour.

Erin Austin:

We can definitely go over if anyone wants to go over.

Erin Austin:

and because the nature of sometimes the questions that I get, that if they are

Erin Austin:

too specific to your particular, Concerns, then that crosses over into legal advice,

Erin Austin:

which I cannot give you on LinkedIn live, but I can answer your questions about,

Erin Austin:

the copyright law and about the process.

Erin Austin:

I look forward to hearing, your questions.

Erin Austin:

So, How to copyright your expertise, and stop your competitors and former clients.

Erin Austin:

'cause sometimes we have problems with that from stealing your stuff.

Erin Austin:

So first, quickly, an overview of the copyright law.

Erin Austin:

So, of course, everything that I'm gonna talk about today is going to be

Erin Austin:

with respect to the US copyright laws.

Erin Austin:

and on a federal level there are different, Laws that apply on

Erin Austin:

a state, like you can actually get a state copyright, um,

Erin Austin:

which is common law copyright.

Erin Austin:

but we're talking about the copyright protections that we get

Erin Austin:

under us copyright law, the, kind that you probably think about.

Erin Austin:

those are the federal US copyright laws, and that's what we'll talk about today.

Erin Austin:

And so what are copyrights?

Erin Austin:

So basically copyrights are the exclusive bundle of rights.

Erin Austin:

It's not just one, right?

Erin Austin:

It's a bundle of rights at, that the owner of the copyright has in connection

Erin Austin:

with the exploitation of that work.

Erin Austin:

And I'm gonna.

Erin Austin:

Refer to the copyrighted material as the work, and we'll talk more

Erin Austin:

about what that means, but that's the terminology that I'll use.

Erin Austin:

And so with respect to the work, the copyright owner has the exclusive

Erin Austin:

right with respect to reproduction.

Erin Austin:

With respect to creating derivative works, that means, taking a book and

Erin Austin:

turning it into a movie to distribute copies of it, to make copies and,

Erin Austin:

distribute it publicly in particular.

Erin Austin:

To perform it.

Erin Austin:

So a screenplay, a play, the right to perform it, that is

Erin Austin:

a copyright to display it.

Erin Austin:

If it's artwork, the right to display it publicly is a

Erin Austin:

copyright and the right to trans.

Erin Austin:

So, music, you know, the right to transmit music over the

Erin Austin:

airways that is a copyright.

Erin Austin:

So that bundle of rights are comprised of copyrights under us copyright law.

Erin Austin:

And when you have a copyrightable material and you are the owner

Erin Austin:

of that copyrightable material, you have the exclusive rights

Erin Austin:

to do those bundle of things.

Erin Austin:

So when.

Erin Austin:

Is their work protected?

Erin Austin:

At what point does the copyright attach to a work that has been created?

Erin Austin:

So that happens at the moment of creation under us copyright laws, the protection.

Erin Austin:

attaches automatically.

Erin Austin:

The copyrights are created at the time that the work is created.

Erin Austin:

So the moment that you write something down, you take a photograph, you

Erin Austin:

paint something on canvas, you record something with a, video camera at the

Erin Austin:

time that the work is created, the copyright attaches at that time to

Erin Austin:

the human being who created that work.

Erin Austin:

So do you have to register copyright?

Erin Austin:

do you have to register with a copyright office in order for

Erin Austin:

that protection to, be effective?

Erin Austin:

No, you do not.

Erin Austin:

Copyright protects at the moment.

Erin Austin:

It attaches at the moment of creation.

Erin Austin:

I.

Erin Austin:

But here we're talking about registering your copyright, and

Erin Austin:

there are a number of reasons why you want to register a copyright.

Erin Austin:

And I always hope people can read things of course I always have it on a

Erin Austin:

huge screen when I make these slides.

Erin Austin:

But why would we register, with our, work with the copyright office

Erin Austin:

when protection is automatic?

Erin Austin:

And there are four really main reasons.

Erin Austin:

There are others, but the main reasons are.

Erin Austin:

The biggie is, the first one is that it enables you to file a lawsuit to

Erin Austin:

enforce your copyrights in federal court.

Erin Austin:

So even though the rights, exclusive rights attached to

Erin Austin:

you at the time of creation, if there's someone goes out there and

Erin Austin:

copies your book and you want to.

Erin Austin:

Sue them in federal court.

Erin Austin:

In order to enforce your copyright, it must be registered

Erin Austin:

with a copyright office first.

Erin Austin:

So that is a primary reason.

Erin Austin:

the second is that it provides evidence that your copyright is valid.

Erin Austin:

If you've gone through the process of, registering your, work with the copyright

Erin Austin:

office, finishing the application, paying the fee, submitting a copy of your work

Erin Austin:

to, the copyright office, and that has been accepted by the copyright office that

Erin Austin:

provides evidence that you actually have a valid copyright, so that you can enforce

Erin Austin:

your copyright against other parties.

Erin Austin:

It also enables you to claim certain statutory damages and attorney's fees.

Erin Austin:

So statutory damages are damages that are, dictated by law.

Erin Austin:

So typically actual damages would be, you hit my car, I have to pay $5,000 to.

Erin Austin:

get it fixed and therefore you owe my actual damages are $5,000.

Erin Austin:

When there are statutory damages, the law says, anytime you hit a

Erin Austin:

car, you automatically get 5,000.

Erin Austin:

You get, let's say, a thousand dollars.

Erin Austin:

even if there's no damages, like have yet hit my bumper.

Erin Austin:

I get a thousand dollars.

Erin Austin:

That would be an example of statutory damage where the law just

Erin Austin:

dictates what the damages will be.

Erin Austin:

So you don't have to prove what your actual damages are.

Erin Austin:

And there are definitely benefits to that.

Erin Austin:

let's say, somebody steals the entire content of my Great American novel

Erin Austin:

that I have sold two copies of.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

what are my actual damages?

Erin Austin:

If you know, there's actually no market for my fantastic novel,

Erin Austin:

but with their statutory damages, you stole my entire novel.

Erin Austin:

Statutory damages would give me.

Erin Austin:

the amount dictated by law, that would be my damages just because you stole my work.

Erin Austin:

So that would be the benefit there.

Erin Austin:

And then if you do have to go to court, and sue someone, then that costs money.

Erin Austin:

I mean, one of the reasons people generally, avoid taking someone to court

Erin Austin:

is because of those attorney's fees.

Erin Austin:

And so if you have your registered, copyright, then you would be able to

Erin Austin:

be awarded attorney's fees as well.

Erin Austin:

I see Tony has a question here.

Erin Austin:

What about someone that copies your program that's been copyrighted

Erin Austin:

and are working your program?

Erin Austin:

Oh, okay.

Erin Austin:

That, is going to be a derivative and so somebody takes what you have

Erin Austin:

and they create a derivative of it.

Erin Austin:

Guess what?

Erin Austin:

That's one of the bundle of the copyrights.

Erin Austin:

To create something based on somebody else's work is creating a

Erin Austin:

derivative, and that is the exclusive right of the copyright owners for

Erin Austin:

anyone to take their work and to create another work based on it.

Erin Austin:

So that would be a breach of your copyright and an

Erin Austin:

infringement, assuming you have a.

Erin Austin:

copyrighted, work.

Erin Austin:

and then the fourth reason is it puts others on notice, that your work

Erin Austin:

is protected and it lets the world know who the copyright owner is.

Erin Austin:

So you can't see it.

Erin Austin:

Of course, down here I have my, copyright notice.

Erin Austin:

That has, the c in a circle.

Erin Austin:

The 20, 23 is when I created these wonderful slides and they're owned by

Erin Austin:

my, law firm, Aaron oss Lockey, L l c.

Erin Austin:

So that does put the world on notice when we put the C, with the copyright

Erin Austin:

notice on the material itself.

Erin Austin:

But, let's say it was, hourly exit.

Erin Austin:

Instead of Aaron Austin Law and then go, what's that?

Erin Austin:

And so in order for them to find me like when you register it, then they

Erin Austin:

can find it and, find the owner of it.

Erin Austin:

So if they wanna license rights to it, wanna buy rights to it, wanna

Erin Austin:

create a derivative of it, then they know how to find the copyright owner.

Erin Austin:

So how to register a copyright.

Erin Austin:

So there's Three main, steps.

Erin Austin:

one, you have to make sure that the work is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

There are rules about what is eligible for copyright protection.

Erin Austin:

That would be something that is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

That is by far the most complex question, and the majority of

Erin Austin:

our time will be spent there.

Erin Austin:

The second thing, you have to file the copyright application and you

Erin Austin:

have to file a copy of the work with the Library of Congress.

Erin Austin:

And so just very briefly, I'm gonna talk about the application process.

Erin Austin:

you can now apply online, go to the, electronic copyright office, for whatever

Erin Austin:

reasons, the u r L was very complicated.

Erin Austin:

So you just want to, Google it.

Erin Austin:

and you can for most, works.

Erin Austin:

You can register them online, and the whole process would take place online,

Erin Austin:

including the submission of the work, assuming it's digital, and there are.

Erin Austin:

step-by-step process for how you actually fill out each of those, areas.

Erin Austin:

I wanna spend most of the time with what's copyrightable today.

Erin Austin:

And I think what I'm going to do is another one that kind of walks through the

Erin Austin:

application process, so you can see it.

Erin Austin:

But I wanna start with what's copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

And so that is the electronic version.

Erin Austin:

There's also paper versions that, back when I was doing film work,

Erin Austin:

we had to print the stuff out and, type in, the information about the

Erin Austin:

movie and then send a reel of the movie into the copyright office.

Erin Austin:

So you can either do it online or you can do it.

Erin Austin:

on paper, the filing fee is, a little more for paper, but the application

Erin Austin:

fee itself is not super high.

Erin Austin:

It's between, $45 and $85 I believe, that's the registration process.

Erin Austin:

And know, of course what I think is really cool, I don't think most people

Erin Austin:

realize this, but when you, register your work with a copyright office,

Erin Austin:

that copy goes into the library of Congress, so I think that's pretty cool.

Erin Austin:

again, I wanna spend most of the time talking about whether or

Erin Austin:

not the work is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

and.

Erin Austin:

There are a couple of issues we need to think about.

Erin Austin:

So Copyrightable works have to fall into one of these categories.

Erin Austin:

Literary work.

Erin Austin:

That would be nonfiction and fiction.

Erin Austin:

So that would be a book or an article, a musical composition.

Erin Austin:

That would be the lyrics or the, notes of music, dramatic work, like

Erin Austin:

a play, a pantomime or Choreography, those are copyrightable sending

Erin Austin:

that they've been recorded.

Erin Austin:

pictorial graphic, that's artwork, including sculptures.

Erin Austin:

Audio, visual work, that would be like motion pictures

Erin Austin:

or videos, sound recordings.

Erin Austin:

That would be the recording of a song.

Erin Austin:

The musical composition would be the written part of it.

Erin Austin:

The recording would be, know, when you sing it.

Erin Austin:

And record it.

Erin Austin:

Architectural work and source code for computers is considered

Erin Austin:

literary work and is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

what It cannot be.

Erin Austin:

Importantly is it has to be something that is creative and by a human.

Erin Austin:

And so the things that aren't creative or aren't considered to be

Erin Austin:

created by a human are the things that are going to be excluded,

Erin Austin:

and the copyright office will not.

Erin Austin:

analyze how, unique it is.

Erin Austin:

It doesn't have to be brilliance, it can be pretty ordinary, but

Erin Austin:

still, so long as it is created by a human and there's some element of

Erin Austin:

creativity, then it would be eligible.

Erin Austin:

So things that are not eligible because the copyright office does not deem

Erin Austin:

them to be sufficiently creative, are ideas, concepts, and processes.

Erin Austin:

I mean, these are not, if until we have expressed it in some way

Erin Austin:

until we have written it down.

Erin Austin:

A book until we have created a video about it, until we have documented

Erin Austin:

it, and the expression of our idea, the expression of the concept, the

Erin Austin:

expression of the process that.

Erin Austin:

Expression is copyrightable, but the ideas itself, the concepts themselves

Erin Austin:

are not titles, names, logos.

Erin Austin:

They're not considered sufficiently creative, even if they are very

Erin Austin:

unique, for copyright protection.

Erin Austin:

Those can be eligible for trademark protection, but not copyright protection.

Erin Austin:

You cannot get copyright protection for something that is based on somebody

Erin Austin:

else's, work, including something that was your former employers.

Erin Austin:

So maybe something that you got from your former employer and you're using

Erin Austin:

it to create, a course based on it.

Erin Austin:

You can't get copyright protection from it if you don't own the underlying

Erin Austin:

material or don't have rights to it.

Erin Austin:

useful objects like clothing or tools, because sculpture is copyrightable,

Erin Austin:

but if it's something that's just useful, that would not be copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

If it's in the public domain, we'll talk about what that is.

Erin Austin:

common geometric shapes and things that are entirely composed of information,

Erin Austin:

those are not copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

So in order for it to be eligible for copyright has to be in

Erin Austin:

that fixed, tangible medium.

Erin Austin:

So even though we call it intellectual property, an intangible, in order

Erin Austin:

for it to be eligible for copyright protection, it has to be fixed in

Erin Austin:

a tangible medium, written down, recorded, painted, sketched, carved.

Erin Austin:

so those things are required.

Erin Austin:

That would mean that things that.

Erin Austin:

Aren't recorded or put in some sort of tangible form aren't copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

So if you improvise a speech or performance and it's not written

Erin Austin:

anywhere, it's not recorded.

Erin Austin:

That is not copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

ordinary conversation even no matter how brilliant, sometimes we say really

Erin Austin:

brilliant things in conversation.

Erin Austin:

not copyrightable, again, a choreographic work that has not been recorded.

Erin Austin:

Then any of those things, if it is recorded by someone who didn't

Erin Austin:

have the authority to do it.

Erin Austin:

So let's say you're at a concert and it's not being recorded by the performers and

Erin Austin:

they improvise something and you're in the audience and you record it, you can't,

Erin Austin:

get cover, protection for your recording.

Erin Austin:

So it must be created by a human.

Erin Austin:

Now that AI is all over the news, of course.

Erin Austin:

something that's purely AI generated, the copyright office will reject that.

Erin Austin:

There was a, recent ruling about that of a, image.

Erin Austin:

It was a painting where, it was a hundred percent AI generated and

Erin Austin:

the copyright office rejected it.

Erin Austin:

This will of course, continue to evolve, as.

Erin Austin:

AI evolves and, we add layers to it.

Erin Austin:

Let's say we ask for an outline, but then we create a book from that outline.

Erin Austin:

Like, these are all things that are maybes, something that's

Erin Austin:

just a natural phenomenon like driftwood beautiful, right?

Erin Austin:

But you can't copyright it as your sculpture and things

Erin Austin:

that are just kind of random.

Erin Austin:

My example here is music created by A wind chime that's not created by human.

Erin Austin:

even though the chime is created by human, the music is not,

Erin Austin:

and probably not copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

And then a sufficient amount of creativity.

Erin Austin:

And so when something does not involve human creativity, and that would be

Erin Austin:

the ai, generated, element, but also things like, footage from a dash cam

Erin Austin:

or footage from, we see this ring.

Erin Austin:

Cameras all the time.

Erin Austin:

that footage, does not involve any human creativity.

Erin Austin:

We didn't, block it.

Erin Austin:

We didn't choose the subject matter.

Erin Austin:

We didn't time it or anything.

Erin Austin:

and so generally that would not be copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

and then if there's only a few ways to expression ideas.

Erin Austin:

So even if you express something, I write out a recipe, but

Erin Austin:

there's only so many ways to.

Erin Austin:

crate chocolate chip cookies.

Erin Austin:

And there's only so many ways to, sift, flour and mix things

Erin Austin:

and, put peaks on egg whites.

Erin Austin:

So, generally it would not be copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

then another one is aire, which is Those beets in a plot that necessarily

Erin Austin:

come from the subject of the plot.

Erin Austin:

So let's take a vampire novel, for instance.

Erin Austin:

I have a vampire novel and I've got, he sleeps in a casket.

Erin Austin:

He doesn't go out in the sun.

Erin Austin:

is afraid of garlic.

Erin Austin:

Um, he lives forever.

Erin Austin:

Like I can't claim copyright protection in those things that

Erin Austin:

are obviously part of every, novel.

Erin Austin:

but just generally, I will say that, the copyright ability of the work is going to

Erin Austin:

be one of the more complicated matters.

Erin Austin:

because there are rules, there are exceptions to the rules.

Erin Austin:

there will always be, Things like a stop sign that you would

Erin Austin:

think is not copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

obviously we know from Andy Warhol that you can take something very

Erin Austin:

ordinary and make it extraordinary and extremely valuable.

Erin Austin:

so there's always going to be an exception to the rules.

Erin Austin:

anyway, I will stop there 'cause I know I have questions and I

Erin Austin:

wanna make sure I get to them.

Erin Austin:

Okay.

Erin Austin:

Is a reader's guide to a book considered a derivative?

Erin Austin:

So, this is an interesting question because I know that I see reader's,

Erin Austin:

guides to books, on Amazon, and I have looked into whether or not they

Erin Austin:

got permission for it, based on the law, I would consider it a derivative.

Erin Austin:

and not fair use.

Erin Austin:

We're not talking about fair use today, but it's not fair use.

Erin Austin:

It I would consider it a derivative.

Erin Austin:

You've taken somebody else's work.

Erin Austin:

Now the question is, how much of it have you taken?

Erin Austin:

let's say it is a book club guide, I've seen those where you just have a list

Erin Austin:

of questions like, this character and that character seemed to be at odds.

Erin Austin:

What do you think about that?

Erin Austin:

if you're talking about that kind of thing that makes you go back and read

Erin Austin:

the book and understand the book, you cannot process it without the book.

Erin Austin:

I would think that is, not a derivative, that is just something that's a discussion

Erin Austin:

guide versus something that's literally like, I can't remember what they were

Erin Austin:

called, the things with the yellow, with a black, I can't remember what it's called.

Erin Austin:

That they, summarize the book that is a hundred percent a derivative.

Erin Austin:

And, I would not, do that, without permission from the copyright owner.

Erin Austin:

how long does it take to register copyright?

Erin Austin:

So, I often see the slides from the copyright symbol.

Erin Austin:

The content's not registered.

Erin Austin:

Should we register to profile?

Erin Austin:

Okay.

Erin Austin:

So couple of things.

Erin Austin:

The process to register a copyright is not very long.

Erin Austin:

Again, it is having your work confirming that it is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

completing the application.

Erin Austin:

The application will take approximately, depending, we know

Erin Austin:

if you have everything that you need and you understand the questions.

Erin Austin:

it would take, approximately, an hour, maybe 45 minutes

Erin Austin:

to complete the application.

Erin Austin:

then you need to submit the fee, and then you need to send in the deposit, which

Erin Austin:

would be a copy of the work that you wanna have registered to the copyright office.

Erin Austin:

And so once they receive all of those things, then as if they have no

Erin Austin:

questions, they go great, looks great.

Erin Austin:

It would take about one to two months for the registration to be completed

Erin Austin:

and for you to get your, confirmation back from the copyright office.

Erin Austin:

They may have some questions if they have some questions.

Erin Austin:

It may go as long as eight months, depending on the

Erin Austin:

nature of their questions.

Erin Austin:

But it shouldn't take that long.

Erin Austin:

That would be pretty extraordinary.

Erin Austin:

but you should know that again, copyright protection attaches

Erin Austin:

at the moment you create it.

Erin Austin:

So the registration is because you want to enforce your rights in the

Erin Austin:

copyright office, right, court.

Erin Austin:

And so you put that c the copyright symbol on it.

Erin Austin:

To give notice to the world that you are claiming copyright ownership in it.

Erin Austin:

whether or not, how long it takes for the copyright office to get

Erin Austin:

through your application and send you, certificate back, two to eight months.

Erin Austin:

but again, your copyright is, is attached that whole time since you created it.

Erin Austin:

Should we register your proposals?

Erin Austin:

I would say no one, I is it something that you would want to enforce in court?

Erin Austin:

would you be willing to hire an attorney to get someone to not, copy your proposal?

Erin Austin:

and maybe the answer to that is yes.

Erin Austin:

I don't know the answer to that.

Erin Austin:

But generally it is those things that, would, I wanna call 'em your

Erin Austin:

money makers, the things that provide value to your end client, the thing

Erin Austin:

that the client is paying you for.

Erin Austin:

Now, your proposals obviously entice your client to pay you, but is the

Erin Austin:

proposal what they get value from?

Erin Austin:

Is that what they're actually paying you for?

Erin Austin:

So if they're paying you for your trainings, they're paying you for.

Erin Austin:

Your courses, they're paying you for your workshops, they're

Erin Austin:

paying you for your workbooks.

Erin Austin:

Those are the things, those that you direct revenue makers, I think would be

Erin Austin:

the place where I would focus most of my attention For registering the copyright.

Erin Austin:

we make copyrightable materials all day, every day, every time you, write

Erin Austin:

a proposal, every time you make a blog post, every time you post on LinkedIn,

Erin Austin:

theoretically those are all copyrightable works, but you don't wanna to get

Erin Austin:

so wrapped up in trying to copyright everything that you create because

Erin Austin:

most of them don't have kind of that.

Erin Austin:

Evergreen value, that moneymaking value that your other, the deliverables

Erin Austin:

that you have for your clients do so.

Erin Austin:

Okay.

Erin Austin:

Do you need to copyright each?

Erin Austin:

Slide presentation or proposals in order to protect the contents.

Erin Austin:

this slide presentation, for instance, this is one work.

Erin Austin:

So if that's what you mean.

Erin Austin:

I would register this entire thing, so this would be my work.

Erin Austin:

I will do another one where I walk through an application, but the application

Erin Austin:

will ask you, what's the title?

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And I'll say, it's how to Copyright your Expertise.

Erin Austin:

What kind is it?

Erin Austin:

This is, literary.

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there are some.

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kind of visual elements to them, but I don't claim any copyright,

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protection in the visual elements.

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So it would be the content.

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So it would be a literary work.

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And who is the owner?

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who created it?

Erin Austin:

I created it.

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but the owner is Erin Austin Law.

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P l c.

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'cause I'm an employee of it, so it is actually the owner.

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And so it would be, Just, and this would be one work, and then I would

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send in this entire 19 slides to the copyright office, and that would be

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the deposit, with a copyright office.

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So that would not be an slide by slide.

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and same would go for your proposal.

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I assume your proposal would be, maybe if it's a P D F, the same, thing.

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You do the whole thing.

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and that would be one work that you would register.

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And by the way, a work, there are different definitions of

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works depending on what it is.

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So a book is like, one work.

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but a series of magazines might be.

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More than one work, depending on, know, if you did it before

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or after it was published.

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So there's different rules about something that's before it's published

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versus after it's published, which would definitely be beyond today, but

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generally one work would be one unified expression, a song, a photograph.

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a painting, an article.

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you can register entire website.

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most people don't because websites change a lot.

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for my facilitated decision making sessions, I craft a

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design, write a script, create participants, of compilation.

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So when you have more than one.

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So let's say I have a workshop.

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So let's say I wanted to register this and I wanted to not just

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register the slides, but I also wanted to register the recording.

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that would still just be one work.

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And so I would choose the one that this is mostly, so I would choose as

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the type of work, the audio visual.

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I'll go So I would choose the audio visual one.

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And so I would say it's an audio visual work.

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it has, video and sound.

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And then I would also say there'd be a place where I could also add the script.

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If I were to do a transcript and the words that are on the slides as well.

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So, you can register more than one category in one, application.

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And so you would just, there are places where you put notes that tells you like,

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The main one is that would depend on which application you use, literary,

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musical, audio, visual, et cetera.

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And then you'd also have places to show that you also have other types

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of, work in that same application.

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If I transition my company from a sole proprietor, D V A to an L l C, do

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the copyright transfer automatically, no transfers of registered co.

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So, I'll say this, if you haven't registered them yet, then you would

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just want to, when you create your L L C, you would, make that a contribution.

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Just like when you create an L L C, you're gonna put money in there, and

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you would also contribute, whatever.

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Other assets you want to contribute to, whether it's your office equipment or

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your, intellectual assets, if you have already registered them in your name.

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So if I go in into the copyright office and I see Ellen Grace Henson as the

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owner of some, book, and you want to then transfer that to your company.

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you would need to register the transfer.

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So that is another, process that you can do through the copyright office

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where you have an assignment of the rights and you would state what it is.

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I'm assigning the rights and my book to, My L l C and then you would

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register that in the copyright office.

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Therefore, the, owner who was currently Ellen Grace, would then

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become, the name of my company.

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And so you would want to properly register that the transfer of copyrights

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requires that it is in writing and signed.

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So you do wanna do that.

Erin Austin:

My sessions are live.

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No recording.

Erin Austin:

So if there's no recording, then you would register.

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I assume that you have, um, some materials that you're presenting.

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maybe there is.

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You have a script that you use.

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It's been written, recorded somehow, captured electronically, so it

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has to be in a fixed medium in order for it to be copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

My main question is that it is compiled from others and other

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resources because of this.

Erin Austin:

That's correct.

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It is not copyrightable if you do not have permission if it is based on a

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someone else's copyrightable materials.

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Now, let's say I had in here, A, image that I got off the internet that,

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showed, a graph about what types of materials are copyrighted per year

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and I could not claim copyright.

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Ownership of that graph.

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Now, that is, I haven't created a derivative of it.

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I've used it in this presentation.

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technically I should have gotten, a consent to use it, but it doesn't defeat

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the copyright ability of my presentation.

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What I would do is when I register this in the copyright office, I

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would say, I'm registering this,

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Presentation and there'd be a place for me to say, I do not

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claim ownership of the graph.

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that explains, the, the breakdown of copyrightable topics.

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so there would be a place where you would disclaim, ownership of

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those parts that you do not own.

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So whether or not the whole, resource is copyrightable or not would depend

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on whether or not it is, a derivative.

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I think I've hit all of your questions.

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So if you have any questions, additional questions, you can

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find me@thinkbeyondip.com.

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there I have additional resources about, what is.

Erin Austin:

copyrightable.

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I do have just, on today, a assessment that also helps walk you through

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the question of whether or not your expertise is copyrightable.

Erin Austin:

So you can download that from think beyond ip.com.

Erin Austin:

And also I do have, ways for you to, get legal advice if you need it.

Erin Austin:

If you feel like d i y is not your thing and you'd like

Erin Austin:

some legal advice around this.

Erin Austin:

You do have ways to reach me there as well, and get your questions answered.

Erin Austin:

I thank you so much for your time and then also always I should have on

Erin Austin:

here on here at erin@thinkbeyondip.com with any of your questions.

Erin Austin:

Thanks so much.

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Erin Austin

Meet Erin Austin, a Harvard Law alum with over 25 years of copyright and contracts experience. As the go-to advisor for professionals with corporate clients, Erin empowers entrepreneurs to be their own advocates, standing out for her commitment to transforming expertise into empires through the creation, protection and leveraging of intellectual property assets. Explore her blend of legal expertise and entrepreneurial insight on ThinkBeyondIP.com and the "Hourly to Exit" podcast. Off the clock, you'll find Erin in the great outdoors or connecting with business coaches to elevate 6-figure consultants into 7-figure powerhouses.