The Value of IP Ownership in a Digital World

In today’s world, “content creator” is a full-time job. A content creator is someone who contributes educational or entertaining information through a digital platform – a job that requires both creativity and analytical thinking to determine what content will produce the most engagement with a digital audience. However, as content creation becomes more and more popular, creators must be wary of losing rights to their unique ideas if they lack legal ownership and protection of their intellectual property.

One example of two content creators who could’ve benefited from owning IP rights, involves two influencer journalists, who worked for a company known as HuffPost. The pair hosted a successful podcast, but when HuffPost was acquired by BuzzFeed, they were laid off and left with no rights to the podcast they created six years before. The name, branding, and remaining intellectual property rights belonged to their former employer. Although the two women were able to start a new podcast and rebrand the show, they had learned an important lesson regarding intellectual property. They swore they would never again create content alongside a media company without having a contract that gave them ownership rights or at least a path to ownership in the future. 

“It’s a really weird thing to have a brand be built around you and your personality and your ideas and then to just be laid off without warning and have zero rights to the thing that we had. It felt really destabilizing and terrible, and I wouldn’t put myself in that position to have that happen again,” one of the women recounted. (“In a Vulnerable Media Economy,” 2022). 

Just as the two influencer journalists lost their intellectual property rights, social media influencers should be wary of the same.  Social media has become one of the most powerful and effective ways of marketing and advertising. Influencers, youtubers, and other content creators are at higher risk of legal concerns around their intellectual property rights. The unparalleled nature of the digital world means that content creators must be cautious of users who can easily access their unique content, copy it, and claim it as their own. 

Whether you are a self-employed content creator on social media or a content creator working for an organization like in the example above, protecting your IP rights and the work which you created, is becoming essential in today’s world. 

To ensure that you protect your unique creations, contact an intellectual property attorney at Innovative Law Group today.