It was World Intellectual Property Day this past Saturday – an opportunity to think about our rights as creatives and why it's so important to understand them. One of the biggest challenges I have faced in running my creative business is communicating that ideas = money. Ideas are some of the most valuable things we have, especially being that we live in the Information Age.
When people commission Asilia to create something for them: part of the fee covers the fact that we can use computer programmes that they might not be able to; part of the fee covers our design and technology skills; part of the fee covers the collective experience that we have, especially given our different backgrounds and perspectives but; as far as I'm concerned, the true value that we bring is through our creativity – our ideas.
Anybody can purchase (or pirate) Photoshop and Illustrator and InDesign the tools. Anybody can learn the web languages. Many people can commit to the years of practice to build experience. But ideas? No technology or formula can predict their quality. That's where the magic is. That's where the greatest value is.
Unfortunately, that's often what people don't realise and this has economic consequences for us creatives!
It's crucial that we know our rights and how to assert and protect them. Over on the Asilia blog, we wrote a post covering:
- What intellectual property (IP) is
- How you can protect your ideas
- What the benefits of IP are
- Some real world examples from Kenya and the UK
What are your thoughts on IP? Has yours ever been challenged?
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Related:
- A Success Reading List for Creative Entrepreneurs
- 5 Reasons Why Design Matters: An Argument for African Parents, Businesses and Other Skeptics
- 6 Pieces of Advice for Starting a New Business in the Afri-Sphere
- 5 Steps to Creative Independence
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