047 | Autumn Witt Boyd on understanding, protecting and enforcing your copyright and trademark rights

Meet Autumn Witt Boyd, an attorney who specializes in helping ambitious entrepreneurs reach their big goals faster and smarter — guiding them as they go. Autumn loves helping creatives put together collaborations and partnerships, grow their brand with trademarks, and protect their content with copyrights. Autumn is also the host of the Legal Road Map podcast, which teaches business owners about legal issues they may face as they grow profitable companies.

On today's episode we're talking about the difference between copyright and trademarks, the process for protecting your work and how to handle copycats. Autumn does a fantastic job of breaking this complex topic into bite size pieces and provide tangible steps that you can take in your business now.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• The most common mistake Autumn sees product-based businesses making
• The difference between copyright and trademarks and where to start when working to protect your work
• Copyrighting multiple pieces as a collection-- when you can do it and when you cannot
• The importance of copyrighting your work earlier rather than later
• Autumn's opinion on when to pursue legal action
• The steps a product-based business owner can take when they find a copycat online that is worth putting the time, energy, and effort into shutting down
• What information a cease and desist letter contains and whether you need a lawyer to send one
• How to ensure that you're not inadvertently influenced by things like social media or other people's work
• Utilizing song lyrics or quotes in your work and the potential consequences you can face
• The process of protecting and fighting for you trademark
• Legal document templates that would be helpful to product-based business owners
• When to start looking for an attorney and how to find one
• Autumn's firm and the companies that she works with
• The five minute IP audit worksheet that Autumn has put together for businesses
• Her podcast, The Legal Road Map Podcast

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"Under US law, you cannot file a lawsuit for copyright infringement without having a copyright registration." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"Think of copyrights as protecting creative works." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"If you're registering something, you're really kind of buying the right to stop other people from using your stuff." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"You just have to make a judgment call of how much time and energy it's worth, and money, because lawyers are not inexpensive. And it also takes a lot of your energy and time to gather all the evidence and do all the work to try and shut them down." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"Make sure that you either take screenshots or save whatever evidence you can find that they're infringing your stuff, because once you get in contact with them, often it will disappear." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"You don't poke the bear when you're trying to get the bear to do something nice for you." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"I always say stay in your own lane, make up your own stuff. You're going to be safest that way." - Autumn Witt Boyd

"I do like to recommend that people work with an attorney who has some experience, either with a specific issue that you're having or with your particular industry." - Autumn Witt Boyd

LINKSWebsite: http://awbfirm.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AutumnWittBoyd/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autumnwboyd/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AutumnWittBoyd

IP Audit Worksheet: http://awbfirm.com/free-legal-guides/

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!