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Looking Through the Lens of IP

Lesson 2 from: Copyright, Trademark, and Intellectual Property for Photographers

Rachel Rodgers

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Lesson Info

2. Looking Through the Lens of IP

Next Lesson: Protecting Your IP

Lesson Info

Looking Through the Lens of IP

So let's get started intellectual property is everything and that's what I want you to know I p is everything ok? And that's how I want you to think about your business um I want you to think about every transaction that you do with a client every time you sell something every time you sign a contract whether or not you take on a project all those decisions should be made thinking about intellectual property the intellectual property that's in your business that's how you make your money, it's your creative works it's it's your legacy you know, that's what it's made up of so it is incredibly important. It's not this weird big out there thing that's just for big corporations to know it's for you, it's for small businesses run by creators like yourself to preserve your rights and to really, you know, share your work with the world in a way that is beneficial to the world and also profitable for you. So that's what I want you to know today that I p is everything in your business. The vast...

majority of the assets of your business are actually intellectual property. So that's really important for you to know so let's deal with the actual definition of intellectual property, so you know what I'm talking about? We've all kind of heard about it we all have a little bit of an idea what intellectual property actually is, but let me show you the actual definition so you you know what I'm talking about? You have some context, so the world intellectual property organization defines I p as creations of the mind inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names and designs used in commerce, right? So that's, what I p s that's sort of the technical definition let me tell you my definition of I p it is the original creative works used in business, okay, so if you make something and you somehow connected to selling something, then instantly you've got type. Okay, so that's, what intellectual property is? So let me give you a couple of examples of that if you've got a block where you share articles about photography, that's intellectual property, right? Because it's your blogged it's promoting your business, it's letting people know your area of expertise so it's somehow connected to actually selling photography services were selling maybe photography products, whatever it is it connected to selling something and so therefore it's intellectual property. So if you've got creative works and they're somehow connected to selling anything doesn't have to be actually for sale, so it doesn't have to just be the photos that you're selling, it could be anything around that so it could be the name and logo you used it could be your brand right? It could be you know articles you right it could be you know promotional photos that you put out there um it could be little videos that you create to promote your work all of those things are intellectual property it's your creative work and that's where the value in your business is ninety five percent of the value of your business is intellectual property and this is true for every business, not just small businesses. So even if you are a fortune five hundred company the vast majority of mcdonald's like value is their intellectual property okay the vast majority of any large business or small that's where the assets are their intellectual property ok, so it's all these intangible assets that are sitting in the business it's sort of like the brain the knowledge of the business that's where the real value is it's not in property it's not in warehouses filled with you know physical goods it's I p ok so you have those assets the same way that a large company does and that's why it's really important to protect it? The value of intellectual property is astronomical is huge okay, so you have to know what it is you have to know what it looks like in your business and then you have to be able to protect it and take steps to preserve your rights to your intellectual property unfortunately, a lot of photographers give away their rights to their I p on dso when you do that, you're not valuing your work as high as it should be valued so that's obviously a problem, right? Because that messes with your revenue and your ability to keep running your business so very, very important for you to understand what intellectual property is and then how to value it in your business. So like I said, my goal is for you to look at everything in your business through the lens of intellectual property, so when you're taking on a new client, you decide to work with them if you're giving away the entire copyright, so you're giving them the creative rights to the photos if you're doing that, then you're gonna charge a whole lot more than if you're just giving them a license to use the photos. There's a big difference, right? So I want you to understand all of those nuances and you will at the end of this class, but that's, how you want to be thinking when you're making decisions about your business and you know if there's a creative endeavor it it sounds awesome amazing opportunity with maybe ah large company or something that could lead to lots of exposure, it might be a great opportunity, but if it requires you to give away your I p or devalue your intellectual property in some way may not be the right opportunity for you so that's what I want you to understand I want you to know those nuances you could make really good decisions in your business and preserve the value of it okay good everybody with me awesome. So let's talk about the value of intellectual property on dh this is around the world not just in the u s I know we have a very broad audience here a creative live and so we might have people here from australia canada the u k in all those places intellectual property is highly valuable it's a large portion of the gross domestic product the gdp of any westernized country so here's some stats there so you can understand that and put some numbers around it I pee in the u s is worth five trillion dollars ok that's a lot of money I can't even wrap my mind around how much money that actually is. Maybe you can either but it's a large portion of how the u s generates revenue okay it's responsible for about eighteen million jobs in the u s intellectual property alone so a lot of us are working you know, dealing with I pay my job is related to that your job as a photographer is related to that so I p is incredibly important that's where the real value is he is responsible for thirty nine percent of the european union's gdp. Okay, that's almost fifty percent. Ok, that includes every industry, health care, you know, anything else you can think of any industry? I p is where most of the money is generated for most countries, over two hundred fifty billion of the assets of the top one hundred companies in australia is intellectual property, and, you know, I'll tell you an interesting trend. That's that's happening in a lot of these large companies and small, we're not capturing r I p we're not valuing r I p so what happens is you have a profit and loss statement that you do in your business, right? Maybe you have your bookkeeper do it, maybe it's something that you just figure out from your bank statements, who knows, right? But you've got a profit and loss statement. You've got statements showing where the revenue and your business is. A lot of these statements don't show the intellectual property assets that the business is holding, right, and so that's, really important for you to do. You want to know what I p is sitting in your business so you can value it? If you were to sell that I p today, what would that value be worth, it could be your system for getting great photography, right? Getting great photos it could be how you pose your clients it could be the settings it could be your knowledge of lighting it could be a lot of different things that could just be you know, your system for setting up your camera. You know, there are a lot of different aspects to creating your photos and so those things are all intellectual property and they have a lot of value so that's something that you want to show up on your profit and loss statement you want to be able to go to a bank and say, hey, I need a loan to finance this new project of my business here's you know, the assets that this business is holding and you can show them your intellectual property in the value that it has so that's something that you should be thinking about, you have a really business, okay? You're not just joe schmo photographer you have a really business and you have to think of yourself as an entrepreneur as a small business owner and be knowledgeable about this aspect of your business because that's where the money is ok, so and it's not it's, not boring, it doesn't have to suck it doesn't have to be hard, so we're going to do it we're going to get fun and easy for youto actually accomplishing your business today

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Rachel Rodgers - Copyright Cheatsheet for Photographers .pdf
Rachel Rodgers - Photographer Clauses.docx

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Absolutely brilliant! I was feeling so anxious and unclear about all of this stuff having recently taken on a commercial client. This answered all my questions, and explained everything I needed to know in such a clear and simple way. One of the best classes I could have purchased for my business at this stage, and an absolute bargain!

a Creativelive Student
 

This class is valuable. I feel like a bandit for what I paid. Rachel Rogers is definitely in your corner to help you make sense of the nebulous nuances that could very well be the difference between you making or missing your money goals.

Student Work

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