Why Intellectual Property Is a Game-Changer for Creative Businesses

For creatives, understanding and protecting your IP is essential to ensure your ability to enjoy its financial benefit

If you are involved in a creative practice or in the creative industries—this applies to you. Although you may be totally unaware of the fact, and bemoan how poorly the creative sector is treated by commercial companies on a daily basis.

But intellectual property (IP) laws were created to do just that—protect your work and ensure you’re able to exploit your work fully and flourish. IP is an enabler of creative opportunity.

What is Intellectual Property?

Let’s look at the definition of IP published by the World Intellectual Property Office in a bit more detail…

"Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, copyright, trademarks, and patents, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish."

In a nutshell, it sets out that anyone turning an idea ("creation of the mind") into an invention or artistic work will automatically own the copyright, and be able to register their work as a trademark, design right, or patent. They can be recognized as the creator and should be able to earn from their work, allowing them to flourish.

Yet in my experience so few creative people have any understanding of IP and the associated rights, often passing over this potential business game-changer to clients with nary a question.

Unpacking IP

If you create something original, which is not copied or plagiarized, you automatically own the copyright to it. You can’t own an idea itself, but the physical expression of that idea—whether it is a film, code, a design, whatever, is subject to the copyright laws. Not only is copyright an automatic right, it’s a property right too, so if you own the copyright to an image, a play, or whatever—you can choose whether you want to reproduce it, sell it, license it, and so on.

Think about all that amazing creative output you have developed during your career—you own all the copyright. Unless you handed it over to a client as part of a deal, or your contract of employment shows that your employer owns the IP to all that you produce during your working hours.

Lots of creative businesses own mountains of copyright but don’t do anything with it. Yet by thinking inventively about what they own, looking to new platforms, markets, audiences, they could build additional revenue streams in ways they may not have considered. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this with the copyright you own, find a collaborator who will help you. If you can’t afford to pay for its evolution, perhaps you can develop a joint venture or revenue sharing deal?

Trademarks, design rights, and patents

Unlike copyright which is an automatic right, the other three areas of IP—trademarks, design rights, and patents—need to be registered with the appropriate authorities in your country. But registration is only worth doing if you intend to exploit your IP in business.

For example, you may have a methodology within your business that could be sold to clients as a service, by trademarking its name you are wrapping it as an offer from your business and protecting it. This process will probably give it greater value in your mind, allowing you to market it more effectively and assuredly.

Registering trademarks and design rights is easier and less expensive than registering a patent which is also a lengthy process. To be successful registering a patent, the process has to be totally new, involve an inventive step and be capable of being used in some form of industry.

Why not take a look at what IP you own? You could well be sitting on opportunities for your business that you never anticipated! You could already be the owner of a potential game-changing piece of creativity that when approached in different ways, whether digitally or in real life, could generate a whole raft of revenues or build an audience in ways you never anticipated.

This article was written by Erica Wolfe-Murray (@erica_19), an intellectual property specialist, founder of UK-based intellectual property company Lola Media, and author of "Simple Tips Smart Ideas: Build a Bigger, Better Business". Her career has seen her working with different creative sectors in advertising, graphic and product design, public relations, documentary production, and licensing. To learn more about IP and see how to audit what IP you already own, sign up for Erica's Domestika course, Intellectual Property for Creative Entrepreneurs.

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- Why We Should Use Creative Commons
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