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Episode 83

E83: Collaboration Legal Issues: How to Share Ideas without Sharing Ownership

Let’s discuss key issues and considerations when entering into a collaboration with colleagues, shedding light on crucial legal aspects that often go unnoticed.

Key Takeaways:

1. Ownership and Licensing: When collaborating, it's essential to clearly define ownership of preexisting materials and set limitations on their use through licensing agreements.

2. Joint Work Rights: Without a collaboration agreement in place, each collaborator owns 100% of the new materials created, allowing them to exploit the copyrights individually. Clear terms on revenue sharing and use rights are crucial to avoid potential conflicts.

3. Collaboration Agreements: A well-crafted collaboration agreement should outline desired terms and restrictions upfront, ensuring both parties are aligned on the vision and outcomes of the collaboration.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Hourly to Exit podcast to gain valuable insights into navigating collaboration legal issues and empowering your intellectual property.

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

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

Hourly to Exit is Sponsored By:

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

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

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Transcript
Erin Austin:

Hey, welcome everyone to this month's LinkedIn live.

Erin Austin:

I have these every last Wednesday of the month at noon Eastern.

Erin Austin:

So just so a little housekeeping, these are recorded and you can find the

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recording in three different places.

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One here on LinkedIn at my profile.

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I also have a YouTube channel, the think beyond IP YouTube channel.

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I I don't have a link for it, but we can get one later.

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and then it is also recorded as an episode for my podcast, the hourly

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to exit podcast, which you can find wherever you listen to your podcast.

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sometimes though, these don't go as smoothly as.

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I would hope they would, and I have to rerecord them.

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But generally, what we do today will be part of the podcast as well.

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So, one thing about StreamYard is it's completely one way.

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I can't see you out there.

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Please feel free to use the comment boxes to say hi.

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And then also as I go through, Please add your questions as well.

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Generally, I will talk to you for about 15 to 20 minutes about our topic of choice

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and then we'll have plenty of time for questions and answers and in the event for

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some reason, I don't get to your question.

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I will make sure that I answer them.

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in the comments for this program.

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So, as we get started, of course, I have to start with a little

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disclaimer that this is legal information, but not legal advice.

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And it doesn't, create an attorney client relationship.

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And so if you have specific questions about your circumstances, then you do need

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to talk to a lawyer about those specifics.

Erin Austin:

All right.

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So let us get started.

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today we're talking about collaboration issues.

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I know a lot of you, ask me about, have plans to collaborate with colleagues.

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I've collaborated with colleagues, maybe even what he's listening right now.

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and there are a number of issues that you want to think about,

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but collaboration is a great way to leverage your own expertise.

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it is you're bringing your ideas.

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collaborating with somebody else with, complimentary ideas that is

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very much the 1 plus 1 equals 3.

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and so, while we'll talk about a couple of things to be mindful of, I do think

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they're very valuable and a great way to leverage our intellectual property.

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So this is the 3rd step in, my audit protect leverage framework where at

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the 1st step with audit, we make sure that we own what we think we own.

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We don't want to infringe other people's rights as we're

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creating our leveraged offers.

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1st, make sure we own everything when we do have rights that are valuable.

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We want to make sure we're protecting them using agreements

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and copyright registration.

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General.

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As appropriate and then leverage and collaboration is 1 of

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those fantastic processes.

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So let's get going.

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as you know, surprise, absolutely.

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No.

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1, the main focus will be the intellectual property.

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Elements of collaborations, but it is curating a partnership.

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So there are lots of things you need to think about.

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we can get very excited about our ideas and we should be excited about them and

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who we're going to collaborate with.

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But we do need to be thinking really kind of clearly and articulating

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what we expect to put into and get out of that collaboration.

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And so these are just some of the things I want to make sure

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that you're thinking about.

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As you enter a collaboration, because it is creating

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essentially a general partnership.

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And so we'll talk about more of that as we go on.

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But, it's not just, the fun times that you're having during the webinar.

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There's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that you also need to be thinking

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about when you enter a collaboration.

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Yeah, by the way, all this stuff will be available to use.

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You'll have these slides.

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but let's, talk about intellectual property.

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So there's 2, angles.

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We need to look at intellectual property with our collaboration.

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1 is with respect to the pre existing materials that.

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Each collaborator is bringing to the collaboration and then the new materials

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that will be born from that collaboration.

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So, with our pre existing materials, I mean, the reason you want to collaborate

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with someone is because they've got some great process skill method

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training, something that, combined with yours would make great result.

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And so.

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On the front end, you're going to need to give each other permission

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to use your pre existing materials.

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And so you will want to make sure that license is very clearly, always.

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I mean, won't say this again that I want everything be in writing.

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Right?

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And signed by all the parties.

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but you want to make sure all these things are very clearly.

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set forth, so you want to make sure there are limits on how they can use it.

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You don't just give them a license to do whatever they want to with

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your pre existing materials in particular, not allowing sub licensing.

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This will become much more important as we move through this, conversation

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and then mutual indemnification.

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If I, take something off of, chat GPT or we're going there, I have something

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AI generated and then I contribute it to the collaboration and I don't

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really have the rights to that.

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And that becomes a source of a claim.

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Then we would want to make sure.

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Everyone who's contributing to the collaboration is standing

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behind the materials that they are contributing to the collaboration.

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But the biggest thing, the thing that surprises everyone the

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most is what happens with the new materials that are created.

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kind of a funny concept that.

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In the absence of something in writing, we're going to have something in

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writing, but I want to, put the fear of intellectual property law in you that

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if you don't have something in writing, what will happen is that the default

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is that each collaborator owns 100%.

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Of the new materials that are created, and it's a strange concept, but it

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basically means that each person has the same rights that 1 person would

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have if they owned it by themselves.

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So they each own 100 percent so some of the terms that.

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All mean the same thing, the same concept of joint ownership under

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intellectual property law, under copyright law in particular.

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Co ownership, co author, joint author, joint ownership, co copyright, joint work.

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They're all talking about the same thing where the default under copyright

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law is that those co authors, co collaborators Own 100 percent of the

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new materials that were created in the absence of something in writing.

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so how does this happen?

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It happens when each party, each collaborator makes a

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copyrightable contribution.

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I'm not going to talk about what copyrightable is today,

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but you can, search, my.

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Prior linkedin lives or my website for what copyrightable

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means, but it has to be.

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So if someone does give an, for instance, if someone did contribute something

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that was in the public domain, that would not be copyrightable that they

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would therefore not be a co owner.

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if somebody just contributed, a map of the United States, that's not copyrightable.

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so it's someone's contributing something that is copyrightable and

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to the final work, and it is the intent of the parties that all the

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contributions will create a merged.

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Unified whole.

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And so what does that look like?

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An example here.

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2 people co create co author jointly author and illustrated children's book.

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So 1 of the co authors provides the text.

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The other co author provides the illustrations.

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So each will own 100 percent of the entire, so the writer doesn't own

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the text and the illustrator artist doesn't own the illustrations.

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They each own 100 percent of the entire.

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And so, here you're like, okay, well, I guess that's kind of makes

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sense because one's creating half and the other one's creating half.

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Okay, that makes sense.

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What if 1 party does 75 percent of the work?

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Let's say it is a chapter book so most of it is text and maybe

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at every chapter, there's an illustration, part of the entire.

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whole of that book, what happens then is still the same if each party

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contributes a copywritable, element and, if it is intended to be created

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to create A single whole work that will be, sold together as a unit.

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You still have each co creator owning 100 percent of the entire work.

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I have a question.

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I will go ahead and show it here, which is what if someone contributes already

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copyrighted content, well, they have to.

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Own the rights to it.

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So I'm going to assume that they own the rights to it.

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And that would be the same thing.

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remember that copyrights arise at the moment of creation.

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So you might be creating something.

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So, it might be the preexisting material that we talked about that

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you're licensing in, or it might be something that you are contributing.

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As part of the joint work, and so it will be 1 of the 2 buckets.

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So either you own it.

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It's pre existing and you're licensing it and you need to own it or have the rights

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to contribute it or you are, maybe you're creating a derivative of something, like,

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you have a course and you're contributing, something that's derivative from it.

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So that would be, something new, but based on something copyrighted.

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So 1 of the 2 is going To be the case, so this is why we need collaboration

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agreements, because unless you have an agreement to the contrary

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again, jointly, equally owned, no matter who contributed how much.

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All right.

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So why does a big reason this matters?

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It's, the 100 percent is kind of, okay, that's great.

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What does it mean as a practical matter as a practical matter?

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It means that when each person owns 100 percent of the copyright, they

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can individually without consent of the other co authors exploit it.

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The copyrights as if again, they were a solo copyright owner, so they

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on their own without consent of the other copyright owners can grant 2 3rd

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parties permission to use the work.

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it.

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Can only be non exclusive, but they don't need the consent of other parties.

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They can sell, like if I own my hundred percent of that work, I can

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sell my entire interest to someone.

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And now you have another joint owner that you didn't know you're

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going to be in business with.

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and then you can create derivatives from it as well.

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And so these.

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Are things that are the default if you don't have a, collaboration

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agreement in place that, modifies this, these are just some examples.

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Obviously, I mean, anything that a single copyright owner can do co copyright owner

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can do without consent of the others, except grant exclusive rights or sell.

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The other thing is, or sell the whole thing.

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they couldn't sell the whole all the copyrights in the book.

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So.

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What we do have, we do still have a duty to account to the

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other, owners for any profit.

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So I can take that illustrated book and I can license, non

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exclusive rights for, all of.

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South America, to a publisher down there.

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I don't need to get consent from the other co owners, but I do have

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to account and pay and share the profits that I get from that license.

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and so again, you can't sell an exclusive license to South America, but I can

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sell a non exclusive license to all of South America, which obviously would

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affect the value of the entire property.

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So we want to make sure that we have the vendor, we're on

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agreement on how to do that.

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what do we want to do if we are thinking about doing a collaboration?

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One, we have the considerations that we talked about up front, but specifically

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with respect to our intellectual property rights, we want to make

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sure we are addressing, ownership.

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There might be a reason for one party to Own 75 and the other own 25%, which is

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really important in the sense of, like, how will revenues be split, which kind

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of goes to the revenue sharing as well.

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you want to have any limitations on use.

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can you create derivatives from it?

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Can you, license, parts of it to, look at our example, South

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American publishing rights.

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And when, we talked about the pre existing material, the beginning,

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what can be done with the rights going in, if we haven't clearly.

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Set limits on what is being contributed in preexisting material the sub

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licensing rights, then those would pass through to my co owner and

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therefore to, who I sub license it to and so it really starts at the

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beginning for any materials that you're contributing, your preexisting materials.

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Controlling what happens on the way in, and then your collaboration

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agreement will also control what happens with the joint work and how

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it can be used, transferred, exploited on the back end and revenue sharing.

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There may be reasons to split revenue sharing.

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Maybe 1 person, wants to just get a flat fee or something, and the other one's

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willing to take, risk on the upside.

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And so maybe you sell the rights, publishing advance, one person gets

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100 percent of the publishing advance, and the other person gets all of the

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royalties, because it's so, you can do, I mean, these are agreements.

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There's not.

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any statutory issues, you can make whatever deal makes

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sense for your collaboration.

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All right.

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So that is what I wanted to talk to you guys about.

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I would love to get your questions comments and, see, Is there

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anything else I can cover today?

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And by the way, again, if things come up later, feel free to put it

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in the comments in LinkedIn, and I will get those as you get normal

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comments and LinkedIn to any post.

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And I can, answer them there.

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I do welcome everyone to connect with me.

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If we're not already connected with me on LinkedIn, please feel free to do that.

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And I also am happy to take.

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Suggestions for future LinkedIn lives, I, like to talk about

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copyrights in particular and contracts and how the two work together.

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today's is a perfect example of how the two work together.

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the pre existing, was the 1st slide.

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I'm going to go back to it.

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We got a little bit of time.

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So, the pre existing materials, is when we're coming together as a collaboration.

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I'm going to assume that each of the collaborators has something

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valuable to bring to the table.

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That's why we are working together.

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Now, it might not be, it might be that 1 of the partners is just a fantastic

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facilitator or all of the materials to be created within the collaboration.

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But if, for instance, you you have a course.

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And you're bringing of the course with you, and that will be

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incorporated into this collaboration.

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That's going to be maybe have, like, a course on the Internet.

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That's kind of a DIY and you're going to be doing a collaboration.

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That's going to be an all day summit.

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you're going to be taking some of the materials from your course.

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And bringing it into this all day summit, you will want to make sure that at

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the front end that you have a license, which very clearly defines how the

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joint venture, how the collaboration can use your preexisting materials.

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And it is especially important.

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It's always important when you have an ultra property to have things in writing.

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but it's especially important because the joint works that come out of the

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collaboration, what you're creating for that all day seminar, for

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instance, that will be a joint work.

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you want to make sure that what the co owners can now do with your pre

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existing materials has been limited.

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And so you've limited it at the front end.

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sometimes we forget to limit it on the back end, but at least

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you've limited on the front end.

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So that's when starting negotiation for collaboration agreement, how much do we

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want to spell out desired terms versus asking counterpart to make suggestions?

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Well, a collaboration agreement should really be that.

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I mean, if we go to the, Considerations, you should start with the end in mind.

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I mean, you're a facilitators.

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I know, you know, what is it that we want to get out of?

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Like, what do we want the transformation to be with this collaboration?

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Or is each party bringing to it?

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And so someone can be the driver.

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Often there is a leader.

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I mean, it's not at all unusual for 1 person to kind of drive the

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collaboration forward and they're really kind of bringing multiple people in.

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Certainly that happens with summits and things like that, where there's

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maybe 1 person driving and they're bringing in other collaborators.

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but it depends on, who has a better idea of where it's going to go.

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So if collaborator has the big picture, and they're bringing in the

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resources that they need to, make that big idea come alive, then they're

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going to start the negotiation.

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but sometimes it's 2 people who, go, you know, we should work together

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you're going to do it together.

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sometimes it's not a collaboration.

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Sometimes it's literally just a license.

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It's literally could be that, driving force will say who

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really just needs to get access.

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To somebody else's preexisting materials, I wouldn't call that a collaboration.

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I would call that a license.

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but when I'm talking about collaboration, like we're really working together to

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create the new joint work, if that helps.

Erin Austin:

All right, everyone will have a wonderful rest of your day.

Erin Austin:

and thanks for joining me.

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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.