Episode 63

E63: Why Copyrights are More Valuable than Trademarks

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

Transcript
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Hello everyone, welcome to

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this month's LinkedIn Live.

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I do these every last

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Wednesday of the month

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at noon eastern, where I

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answer your questions about

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copyrights and contracts.

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And so if you are listening

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to this, um, there are Slides

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that go along with this,

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although you can absolutely,

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get all the value from this

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episode by listening to it.

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But if you're curious, you

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can see the slides on my

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YouTube channel, or also

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on my LinkedIn profile.

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So this month, we are talking

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about why copyrights are more

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valuable than trademarks.

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Now, this is my opinion.

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Of course, I imagine a

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trademark lawyer would

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have a different opinion,

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but my point of view is

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specifically with respect to

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the B2B professional services

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provider who has corporate.

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Clients, and so are concerned

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a little bit different than,

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say, a Pepsi or a FedEx

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or even, an IBM, right?

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we are going to talk about.

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they are different how

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they are same and how

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they will work together.

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So 1st and please feel free to

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put comments in the, chat box.

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if it doesn't throw me off

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too much, I'll answer them.

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But if not, I'll

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wait until the end.

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I've gone both ways.

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so copyrights versus is

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1 is if they're battling

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against each other, but

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aren't that was just.

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Because I like the

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image because they

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really do work together.

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As, you know, I'm a huge fan

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of service based businesses of

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experts, creating intellectual

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property assets, because

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they're very important value

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builder in your business.

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And so they, aren't

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mutual exclusive.

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We will have copyrights

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and trademarks throughout

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both in our businesses,

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probably, but I will be.

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Making an argument, of

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course, that, the copyrights

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are the more valuable

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and the more essential

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intellectual property

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assets in your business.

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1st, to talk about what

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does copyright protect

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versus what trainer.

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Protects copyright protects

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the original expression of

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something intangible form.

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what we write in a

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book, what we paint on a

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painting, what we record

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in a song or on video, what

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we create in a graphic.

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So those things that we take

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an original idea, and we make.

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work out of it.

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those things that have to be

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human, of course, are eligible

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for copyright protection.

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you may know that copyright

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protection attaches at

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the moment that that

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original work is created.

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there is an extra step of

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registration if you want to

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enforce the copyright against

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a third party infringers,

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but you do have that

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copyright protection from the

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moment that it is created.

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Trademark and copyright

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very importantly does

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not protect ideas.

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Trademark protects our

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reputation, our brand.

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It tells, the world, the

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consumer specifically.

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What the origin of a good

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or service is, I used

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examples of IBM and FedEx.

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When we see those

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trademarks, we know

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exactly who's delivering

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our package or where our

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office machine came from.

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I don't know.

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What does IBM do now?

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and so it protects, names.

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Logos, even protect colors

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like u p s, brown, and even

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sounds like the N B C, chime.

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and so that tells the world,

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so that protects the origin

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of a good or service, but

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it does not protect content.

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And so I'm gonna talk about.

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An example today, where you

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are, we are an HR consultancy.

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The name of our business is

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diversity talent solutions.

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And yes, I did get

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that from chat.

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GBT.

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and we provide DEI training

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to corporate clients.

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And so when we

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have this business.

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What do trademarks versus

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copyrights protect for us?

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copyright that protects all

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of our training materials, any

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videos that we've recorded,

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scripts for our trainers,

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workbooks, worksheets,

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um, you know, webinars

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that we put on.

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These are all works.

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That when they are original,

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and we've put them in

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tangible form, they are

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protected by copyright.

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All of our marketing

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materials, the podcast that

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we go on the speeches that

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we give our LinkedIn posts,

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our newsletter, our website,

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all of those materials are

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protected by copyright.

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Work product, let's say we

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are engaged to create employee

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workbook for 1 of our clients.

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And so it is copyright law

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that will determine the

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ownership and the rights.

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that client, will have in

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using that employee workbook.

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So it could be that, you have

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1 that you're just licensing

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to them and that they can't

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use it for any other purpose,

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or it could be that you're

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creating an original 1, just

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for them because there's

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something unique about

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their office environment.

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And they had some specific,

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requests but it is copyright

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that will determine the

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ownership and the use or

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reuse, or the creation

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of derivatives of that.

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work product, and let's

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say you are the client.

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Let's say you have

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engaged a 3rd party to

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help create your course.

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you are the expert

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in issues, but you're

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not a course designer.

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You're not an educate.

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I think they're called.

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Education designers, perhaps.

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And so you've engaged one of

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them to help you, with the

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user experience, the flow and

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everything of your course.

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So you hire them.

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It is copyright law

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that will determine your

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ownership rights in the

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deliverables that course

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designer creates for you.

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So that's copyright.

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On the trademark side, what

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does trademark protect?

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It protects the name

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of your business.

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And so, we can see that

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there is a little bit

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of a lopsided there.

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So we're going to talk about

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the value of copyrights.

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In your business and the value

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of copyrights to your clients.

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first, in the context

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of maximizing the

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value in your business.

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I talk about exclusivity

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and sustainability.

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I have, talked a great.

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Deal about it in the context

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of creating a business

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that you can sell someday.

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But the things that help you

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create a business that would

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be saleable are the same

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things that help you build

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a business that is scalable

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and therefore increase the

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value in your business.

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So the two main pillars we

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talk about when we're talking

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about service based business

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and maximizing the value

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of it are the exclusivity

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and the sustainability

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of the business.

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and within exclusivity,

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we'll, take each and turn

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exclusivity and sustainability

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with exclusivity.

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We have the 2 pillars of

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assets and positioning.

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Now, positioning is

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technically an asset as

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well, but I've set it up

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this way to think about,

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because assets are more

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kind of solid, even though

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they're intangible, they're

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more solid than positioning,

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which is a little bit harder

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to kind of grasp, um, asset.

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on the asset side and also

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on the asset side, these

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are things that can be

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pretty cleanly assigned

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to a 3rd party or is

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positioning may or may not

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be assignable to 3rd party.

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So, your assets, your

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intellectual property, which

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we've talked about, we've

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talked about the things in

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our HR consultancy business

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in this example, that are

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protected by copyrights

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or by trademarks data.

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Would be a valuable asset

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if you have data or research

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that you have databases are

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protected under copyright

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law and any insights

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that you draw for them.

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You take your data and you

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analyze it and you draw

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insights from it and you

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publish white papers or

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use it in presentations.

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Those insights are

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protected by copyright.

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And then the things we

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use within our business

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to make us more efficient

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to maximize the value that

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we provide to our clients.

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We develop tools

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and processes.

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We may have, a

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library of resources.

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We may have

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templates or models.

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We may have methodology

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and frameworks that we use.

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We may have S.

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O.

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P.

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S.

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and even, those employee

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handbooks are important

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to make sure that we're

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all working together.

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and so those may or may not

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be, under copyright law.

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Copyright does not

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protect methodologies.

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It does protect

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the expression.

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So someone can't

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literally copy your S.

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O.

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P.

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S.

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but they can read them and.

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use them as their own.

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but still, these are assets

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that provide value in our

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business, depending on

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how developed they are,

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they would be protected

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under copyright law.

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they are not protected

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under trademark law.

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And then our positioning,

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our expertise, know, what we

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do, our niche, who we serve,

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the thought leadership, where

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we combine this to add value

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to the conversation, about.

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Who we serve and how we do

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it and, of course, our brand

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and our reputation, all these

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combine to create our unique

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position in the marketplace.

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Excuse these are.

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protected by a combination

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of copyright and trademark,

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you our thought leadership,

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all the content we create

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our presentations or speaking

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gigs, all of that webinars

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our thought leadership is

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protected by copyright law.

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And, of course, our

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brand would be protected

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with a trademark.

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and we can, of

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course, have both.

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Of I've created a

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copyrightable, work in the

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form of this presentation.

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And here I have, I don't know

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if you can see it against

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this light background, but

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I have my copyright line

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here, the C in a circle

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2023, Aaron Austin Law, PLC.

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the law firm is my official

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business entity, but my

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brand is think beyond I.

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P.

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and I have this little, I.

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P.

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guy in a box who is,

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part of my, trademark

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with think beyond I.

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P.

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Now, for me, personally,

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I have not registered

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a trademark, for think

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beyond AP, we'll tell

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you why in a minute.

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And so that is

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exclusivity pillar.

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Sustainability is

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the other pillar.

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The ability to,

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continue regardless

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of what is happening

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with you as the owner.

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So, if you are the only

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person who's driving sales,

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driving revenue, doing all

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the things, your business is

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on the less sustainable end.

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Versus if you have some

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independence and there is some

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independence in your business

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from you for making sales,

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for driving revenue, then

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it becomes more sustainable.

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And it is a continuum.

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for those of you who have

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questions about that,

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I do have a assessment

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about where you are on

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that, sustainability,

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to continuum 'em.

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And, you can find

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that on my website.

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I'll have that at the end.

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And so the things that would,

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Promote sustainability are

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leverage leverage is where

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you have an input, but

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that the output from it is

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magnified from the input.

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say, in making an investment

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in creating a product, we

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put in that investment in

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the front end, but then we

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can sell it multiple times.

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And so its impact is

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magnified from the input.

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And so generally that involves

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either, the creation of tools.

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It doesn't have to be

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something you sell.

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It can be the creation

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of tools to make

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you more efficient.

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and, something that's product

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ties that you're doing over

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and over again and again,

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you know, you can continue

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to create that value for your

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client, less expensively and

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then, Your business model,

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do you have a 1 to 1 custom

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business model, which hard

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to create efficiencies or

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do you have some variety

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of your business model?

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So you have some things

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that are 1 to several,

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like, a mastermind or

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group program, or 1 to many

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in the form of a course.

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Or a book, you don't need

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to have all those things.

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And I don't want

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anyone to think that.

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but there's more than 1

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way than just having 1

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on 1 custom services to

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create sustainability in

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your business, even just

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having a systematized,

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service that you can help

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peel off pieces of it.

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Like, you know, that.

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X needs to be done, or you

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have a starting point from

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a template, or, you know,

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that there is this piece

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that doesn't involve me.

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I can use a contractor for

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this, or I can even use

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technology for this to help

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make the delivery of that 1

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on 1 service more efficient.

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And then protection, that is

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the form of our contracts.

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are we using contracts

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effectively so that when we

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have deliverables from our

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contractors, we have work

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product we're delivering

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to our clients that we

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make sure that we're still

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owning and controlling the

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rights that flow from those

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deliverables and again,

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that is Copyright and that's

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copyright protection that

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you get with those contracts.

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typically for the expertise

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based business, there's

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always going to be

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exceptions, but these are

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just the typical cases.

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So that is the exclusivity,

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sustainability to create

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the most value in our

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businesses for ourselves.

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What about the value

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to our clients?

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I hate to call it this,

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but it is a little bit,

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the trademarks are a little

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bit of a vanity piece.

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Now it's not that it's

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unimportant that your clients

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not be able to tell you

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apart from your competitors.

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It is important that your

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clients can tell you apart

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from your competitors, but

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is the value to your clients.

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In your trademark, or is

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the value to your clients

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in the transformation?

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You provide the outcome

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that they get from you.

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That doesn't come from your

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trademark that comes from.

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The training you provide the,

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research that you have the

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insights that you have the

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process that you have all

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those things that provide

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the outcome that your clients

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are paying you for that will

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provide the outcome that your

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clients will rave about that

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will provide the outcome that

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will cause your clients to,

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refer you on to other people.

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it is not.

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The trademark and so making

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sure we're focusing on the

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outcome of providing to

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our clients and not, know,

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how cute our trademark

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may or may not be.

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would your client.

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be just as happy with you

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with a different name.

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And I'm going to argue that

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it would be now, even though

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I have obviously come to the

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conclusion that copyrights,

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are greater than I don't

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know if that's the right

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thing, but copyrights have

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more value in your B2B,

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expertise based business.

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When you have

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corporate clients.

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it doesn't mean

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that trademarks.

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Thanks.

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Are unimportant.

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They are important,

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but they don't really,

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challenge the value of the

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copyrights in your business.

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we want to be able to be

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distinguishable from our

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competitors, but that

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shouldn't be because we

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have such a cool trademark

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that should be because

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of the work we are doing.

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In our industry, getting out

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there, speaking, writing,

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showing our expertise, having

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satisfied clients, getting

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those testimonials LinkedIn.

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That's the way we

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distinguish ourselves.

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You know, having

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the positioning.

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I could go back to

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the positioning slide.

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Those are the ways

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that we create.

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our unique positioning

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and the trademark is

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the cherry on top.

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I put it this way, like,

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unless you have something

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to rave about, trademark

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doesn't mean anything because

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the trademark just attaches

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to the value of the result.

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So, the value of the

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result has to come before

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the trademark, then the

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trademark, of course, and

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say, okay, the value comes

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from this trademark, but 1st.

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You have to establish the

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value and so some of you

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may have many resources.

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If you have limited resources,

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then make sure you're

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focusing on copyrights.

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and then the trademarks are.

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nice to have, but

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not a must have.

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and, I am not a trademark

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lawyer and I will say on

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behalf of my trademark,

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lawyer colleagues that they

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will say this that if there

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is a trademark that it would

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just hurt you in your soul.

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If somebody else got it

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and took it from you,

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then get it registered.

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but if there is another

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term that could.

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work just as well, almost

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always there is, then,

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focus on making sure you're

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creating value for your

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clients, becoming the go

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to person in your space.

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if you are serving

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corporate clients,

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they know who you are.

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They're not Googling you.

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they're not going off of.

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know, how many, SEO, right?

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that's warm introduction

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sales and all the things

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that require, getting to

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build your reputation.

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So that is what I

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have for you today.

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I don't see any comments

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in the comment box.

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I'm happy to.

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Take any questions

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if you have them

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and if you don't, you can find

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out, some of the things that I

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mentioned are things that are

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probably copyrightable because

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not everything that we create,

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not all the content we create.

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Is copyrightable and so I

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have created an assessment, a

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free assessment tool that will

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determine whether or not your

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expertise is copyrightable.

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please feel free to go to

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my website, thinkbeyondip.

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com and there you can

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sign up, for my newsletter

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and for podcast updates.

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And you will also get your

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expertise copyrightable.

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Assessment, thank you

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all for joining me.

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if you have any questions,

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just shoot them to me, either

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on LinkedIn or I think beyond.

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I.

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P.

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Aaron, I think beyond.

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I.

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P.

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dot com and I will hope

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to address them in the

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next LinkedIn live.

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Thanks so much.

About the Podcast

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Hourly to Exit

About your host

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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.