How do You Protect Your Intellectual (or not so intellectual) Property?

14 Comments

Comment by Mike Seidle on July 28, 2008 at 12:23am

Amy - You may want to ask an attorney or one of the people on the creative commons forum about that. CC's all over the internet.

Comment by Amy Stark on July 28, 2008 at 6:03am

I use creative commons specifically so I DON"T have to talk to an attorney =)
But you are right, Mike, it is a question for an expert.

I was just wondering if any other Smoosiers had experience with using it, or if there were other options that made sense.

Comment by Matthew Schantz on July 28, 2008 at 6:58am

This is a good question to ask, Amy. There are certainly risks to using CC material, but I think they're better risks than with many other arrangements by which you use content created by others. The fact that the terms in CC licenses are standardized helps you know much more easily what you'd be getting into than in a general license negotiation.

If talking to an attorney is something you work to avoid, you might be setting yourself up for trouble. If you try to be efficient with the time spent with an attorney, I think you'll be much better off generally. CC licensing will let you talk with an attorney once to get an understanding of those standard terms without consulting him or her for every license negotiation.

These are just my thoughts, not those of my firm or clients, and not legal advice to be applied to any particular person or situation.

Comment by Ernest Rando on July 28, 2008 at 8:57am

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Comment by Ernest Rando on July 28, 2008 at 9:01am

The above video i posted is not really an answer on how to protect intellectual property but an interesting viewpoint on where our culture is headed in regards to how the world uses "Copies". Larry Lessig is a lawyer and a proponent of Creative Common Liscensing and an advocate for laws that make sense.

Comment by Amy Stark on July 28, 2008 at 10:52am

Hey Ernest-- I am so glad you posted this TED Talk. I first learned about Creative Commons from TED, and started using it because of my trust in the concept.

Mark Twain said, "Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." The intellectual property laws currently in place restrict the flow of ideas. I like the grassroots feel to Creative Commons, if your idea is good enough it will spread from the bottom up. Thanks again, Ernest.

I know intuitive insight is not a good basis for selecting a way to keep people from infringing upon ideas or words. That is why I am thrilled there are experts, such as patent attorneys, who can navigate those choppy waters.

Comment by Amy Stark on July 28, 2008 at 11:10am

Hey Matthew--You post raised several interesting questions in my mind and I will have to "cogitate" before responding.

On a side note, I wrote a thesis last year about "Giving Laughter and its Potential to Spread Human Happiness." In my research, I realized there were two occupations that -historically and consistently- have been socially acceptable to poke fun at: lawyers and politicians.

Please don't infer from my reply to Mike that I avoid attorneys. It was my lame attempt at humor. I'll bet you know several good attorney jokes.

Comment by Amy Stark on July 28, 2008 at 1:57pm

Hey Matthew--In the post above I should have typed "your post" not "you post". Please excuse the typo. I am intrigued by the fact you added a CYA statement to your post, it made me smile for some reason.

Let me re-cap what you typed in your first paragraph—“Creative Commons is risky, but there are worse options out there. CC can be helpful because it’s user-friendly and the language is straightforward.” Is that a fair assessment of your thoughts? Does that mean that CC can be used as a baby step toward traditional licensure?

In my amateur perspective, intellectual property laws are in place to protect your idea, so that someday you may be able to reap monetary rewards for your efforts. As a result I.P. Laws erect hurdles that restrict access to an audience. Is it not in your best interest to have as many people know about the idea as possible?

The fact that CC welcomes people to build on ideas really appeals to me. I WANT people to share my words and ideas, and-- if the idea is good enough--it will attract other people who agree. When the groundswell of support reaches critical mass, a publisher will see the benefit of printing it, which will introduce the idea to an even larger audience. That’s where I think Creative Commerce shines; the only hurdle to using an idea is to give credit where credit is due.

I really appreciate your post, Matthew, because I know very little about intellectual property rights. I am thankful there are people, like you, who make it their business to understand how all this works.

Comment by Noah Coffey on July 28, 2008 at 3:13pm

One of the first sessions at Blog Indiana this August is talking about this topic specifically. The session is called Legal Issues in Blogging and is lead by Andrew Paradies of Photrade.com.

Here is a snippet of the description of what will be covered:

There will also be a discussion about Creative Commons – what it means, the different licenses and how they apply to use of content in blogs. Finally, the session will cover your rights and potential courses of action as a blogger when your content is misused.

Read more here...

Comment by Amy Stark on July 28, 2008 at 4:42pm

Are there still tickets available to the Blogging Indiana Conference? I want to better understand this issue.

I mentioned the conference to several of my blogging friends, but had not decided until this minute to spend the money to attend. You sold me, Noah =) Thanks for the post.

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