You paid for the stock photo, so you’re safe — right? Not always. ‘Licensed’ images get creators sued more often than you’d think, because the license had limits you never read. Here are the five most common stock-content traps and how to stay out of them.
The difference between a photographer who gets paid once and one who gets paid for years isn’t talent — it’s the contract. Here’s the plain-language guide to licensing your images instead of selling them, the usage terms that actually matter, and how the same photo can pay you twice.
Your podcast is a bundle of intellectual property — the name, the music, the recordings, and your guests’ voices. Here’s the plain-language guide to what you own, what you need permission for, and how to keep a copyright strike or a lawsuit from blindsiding your show.
Signing with a record label, talent agency, or management company can be the deal that changes your career — or the one that quietly hands over your masters, your name, and years of future income. Here’s the plain-language guide to what you keep, what you give up, and the clauses that decide it.
A brand deal or agency contract can quietly sign away the three things that make you an influencer: your name, your handle, and the content you create. Here’s the plain-language guide to what you actually own, which clauses decide it, and the red flags to catch before you sign.
The shape of your bottle, the colors of your box, the whole look of your storefront — that can be legally protectable, not just your logo. It’s called trade dress. Here’s the plain-language guide to what trade dress is, when it’s protected, the two traps that sink most claims, and how to lock down the look and feel of your product.
Created a mascot, comic hero, or recognizable persona people love? Characters can be protected — but only the distinctive, well-developed ones, and usually by copyright and trademark working together. Here’s the plain-language guide to protecting a character you created, proving you own it, and stopping copycats.
Got a character, mascot, or art style people love? A merchandising deal lets a manufacturer turn it into T-shirts, toys, and mugs while you collect royalties. Here’s the plain-language guide to how merch licensing works — royalties, advances, minimum guarantees, licensed-product scope, and the approval rights that keep you in control.
Licensing lets you keep your brand and get paid for it — someone else makes and sells, you collect royalties. Here’s the plain-language guide to what you can license, how the money works, the deal terms that matter, and how to protect your brand while another company uses it.
Selling your brand, content catalog, or trademarks? Here’s the plain-language playbook for how IP actually changes hands — what counts as a sellable asset, the paperwork that transfers it, why chain of title makes or breaks the deal, and the terms worth negotiating.