You may be talented enough to develop a great idea and turn it into an original work on your own. But when you join forces with equally skillful individuals, there is no telling how great your creative work can become. This is known as a collaborative work, a new idea, product, or piece of intellectual property produced by two or more parties working together. Here, each party’s contribution is inseparable from the others, meaning the work would not and cannot exist under any other circumstances. But before you dive right in, please continue reading to learn what intellectual property considerations to make before entering a collaborative work and how an experienced New Jersey copyright lawyer at The Ingber Law Firm can ensure you are ready to join the project at hand.
What copyright considerations should I make before entering a collaborative work?
Under the Copyright Law of the United States, all contributors to a collaborative work may be deemed joint copyright owners. This is to say that each contributor holds an equal right to the entire piece of creative work, regardless of the exact percentage of input each party made. With that, if you are one of the contributors, it is in your best interest to push the others toward all entering a copyright licensing agreement.
With such an agreement, you may clarify who qualifies for joint ownership rights and the percentage of rights and specific rights granted to each party. Further, it may disclose if and how certain owners can license the creative work out to third parties, along with how the revenue and royalties will be distributed among all the parties. With these expectations written down in black and white, you may avoid potential disputes, some of which may turn into legal battles, with those you must collaborate with for an extended time.
What trademark considerations should I make before entering a collaborative work?
Similar to what you would do when having joint copyright rights, you should draft and execute a trademark licensing agreement if you have collaborated with another entity to create a brand name, logo, slogan, or otherwise for your business venture. The same goes if this is technically considered work made for hire, in which your personal employee teams up with you to execute this creative work within the scope of their employment, disclosed within an employment or independent contractor agreement.
This is especially because, at the close of this project, it is very likely that one contributor sets off to use the trademark and its likeness for their own set of initiatives. They may even go as far as using it in a separate collaborative project with another entity. And so, one contributor’s poor or negative business decisions may run the risk of your personal brand getting diluted and tarnished in the marketplace. In turn, this may adversely affect your profits and threaten your business’s longevity and survival.
To ensure your collaborative work is well fleshed out, please seek the aid of a skilled New Jersey trademark lawyer. You may rest better knowing that the team at The Ingber Law Firm will not let you enter this legal process without being properly prepared. So please pick up the phone and request our services today.