Protect Digital Content

Walking the halls and halls of products at this year's International CES, you can find wearable technology, sensors, connected toys, connected cars, UHD TV's and so much more. But in addition to all the hardware, we're seeing many software solutions for the millions of us who regularly maintain blogs and websites: the content creators. There are some things to remember when creating digital content and it is important to know your rights.

1. You own the copyright to your photograph, recording, or written copy (including blog posts, marketing material, packaging copy, etc.) the instant it is created.

2. Register your copyrighted works to take full advantage of the legal protections offered to registered copyright owners (e.g., the ability to sue infringers).

3. "Fair Use" is not simply a general opinion of what is "fair" when it comes to using part of or the entire copyrighted work of another: It is a legally-defined exception that may or may not apply to your use of a copyrighted work, depending on multiple factors, regardless of how generously you attribute the original author.

4. Using the informal (TM) symbol is one way to assert common law rights in your trademark, even though your mark is not yet registered by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office.

5. Rather than selling all of the rights to your intellectual property outright, consider granting the other party a license to particular rights in order to create or extend the existing life of your IP's stream of income.

6. When considering a license, pay close attention to the language defining how, where and when the intellectual property can be used (e.g., is it exclusive?; can it be used on only one website or product?; is it for a renewable term?; etc.)