Content ownership impacts many types of business owners, especially creatives like graphic designers, photographers, and copywriters, and the businesses that hire them. It’s also a big part of influencer marketing agreements. This episode focuses on content ownership clauses, which are often filled with confusing legalese. I’ll discuss what the clauses mean and how they can impact your business.

Even if you’re not a creative or influencer, you’ve probably entered a contract that has some type of content ownership provisions. For example, logo or website design and headshot photography are very common things you may have dealt with if you have a website. So content ownership comes up a lot for all business types, and the agreement will typically govern your use of the original content someone has created for your business.

In this episode, I will talk about the three terms in content ownership provisions you need to know and how they often show up in a contract. Then I spend some time diving into licensing language and how to make it easier to understand, before wrapping up with some action steps.

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In this episode:

[02:57] - Danielle gives a brief overview of copyrights and trademarks.

[03:53] - How does the U.S. Copyright Office define copyright? Their definition isn’t really clear but Danielle reveals the key pieces.

[04:35] - Copyright owners have these exclusive rights.

[05:28] - Danielle talks about how copyright works.

[06:43] - Work-for-hire, license, and assignment are three important terms you need to know and understand in a content ownership provision.

[07:00] - The U.S. Copyright Act defines these two categories for work-for-hire.

[08:12] - How do each of the three key concepts show up in content ownership clauses?

[10:12] - Licenses can get complicated. The language in the license should be specific and cover a few categories.

[10:51] - Danielle gives an example of a more complicated license agreement from one of her legal clients.

[11:39] - To understand licensing language, break it down into the various components that typically come up in these clauses. Consider these areas.

[15:00] - Danielle reviews today’s action steps.

 

Links & Resources:

“Intellectual Property: All About Copyright”

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