I am a Lifestyle Blogger. How Can I Protect My Intellectual Property?
George Raptis
After spending countless hours working on your blog, the last thing you want is to have someone copy or misuse your blog posts. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurrence, especially when posting original content on the internet. Luckily, copyright and trade mark law protect your blog content and brand. To avoid others copying or misusing material on your blog, you can take further measures to protect your intellectual property. This article outlines:
- what copyright and trade marks protect;
- how to apply for these forms of intellectual property; and
- what to do if someone has copied or misused copyrighted or trade marked material.
What Is Copyright?
For a lifestyle blogger, copyright may provide the most suitable form of intellectual property protection. Copyright ensures you have the exclusive right to make copies of your original work. If you are a copyright owner:
- others cannot copy or communicate your original work without your permission;
- you can licence your copyrighted material to others; and
- legal action is available in the instance where a person infringes on your copyright.
Copyright can protect original materials, including artistic works such as photographs in a blog post. It also protects literary works, such as text in a blog post. The duration of copyright protection can vary depending on certain factors, but copyright generally lasts for 70 years in addition to the lifetime of the creator.
As a general rule, if you write your own lifestyle blog, you will be the copyright owner. However, copyright ownership may change when you write your blog in the course of employment, if you created the work as a commission, or if you write your blog under the direction and control of the Government. In these instances, it will generally be the employer, commissioner or the Government who owns the copyright to the blog posts, respectively.
Copyright Registration?
Under Australian copyright law, you do not have to register for copyright to protect your blog posts. Instead, copyright automatically protects your work as soon as it is written down or published on the blog. You can notify potential infringers that your blog posts are copyright protected by branding your posts with a copyright notice. Copyright notices typically have the:
- ‘©’ symbol;
- creator’s name; and
- creation date of the copyrighted material.
Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement can occur if someone uses all or a substantial part of your copyrighted blog posts without your permission. This can arise in various instances, including where your copyrighted work is:
- sold;
- distributed for trade or any other purpose; or
- exhibited in a public space.
If someone has copied or misused your blog posts, there are several instances where they may not necessarily infringe your copyright. Under the Copyright Act, there are several fair dealing exceptions to copyright infringement. These exceptions can apply if someone uses your copyright blog posts for:
- research or study;
- criticism or review;
- parody or satire; and
- news reporting.
If you believe that someone has infringed on your copyright, a lawyer can advise you on the strength of your claim and whether you should proceed to take further action with a copyright infringement notice.
Trade Marks
Whilst trade mark law cannot protect the written material on your blog, they can protect the branding that represents your lifestyle blog. Under Australian law, trade marks usually protect:
- unique names;
- phrases or slogans; and
- logos.
Owners of a registered trade mark enjoy the exclusive right to use, license and sell their trade mark. A registered trade mark can:
- differentiate your brand from other lifestyle blogs in the market;
- prevent others from using your trade marked items; and
- allow you to pursue legal action when someone infringes your trade mark rights.
Trade Mark Registration
In Australia, trade marks can be unregistered or registered. Unregistered trade marks mean that the owner has not registered the trade mark but intends to inform potential infringers that their logo or slogan serves as a unique identifier of their brand. Unregistered trade marks are usually identifiable by the ‘™’ symbol.
On the other hand, registered trade marks will bear the symbol ‘®’ and will give you the exclusive right to use, license and sell your trade mark for 10 years from its filing date. You must formally register these trade marks with IP Australia.
The main difference between the two is that an unregistered trade mark has limited protections than registered trade marks, which provide more comprehensive protection in the instance of trade mark infringement. To apply for a registered trade mark, you must apply via IP Australia.
Trade Mark Infringement
If someone has used your trade mark without your permission, there is a likelihood they have infringed on your intellectual property rights. In this instance, it is best to contact a lawyer who can advise you on the strength of your claim and what steps you should take to enforce your intellectual property rights.
Key Takeaways
Copyright can protect written and visual materials on your blog, whereas trade marks can protect the branding representing your blog. Under Australian copyright law, copyright automatically applies to blog posts as soon as they are published. Copyright owners enjoy the exclusive right to make copies of their work and prevent others from copying their work without their permission. On the other hand, trade mark law can protect your blog brand, ranging from the logo used on your lifestyle blog to its unique catchphrase. If you need help protecting your intellectual property, our experienced trade mark lawyers can help. Call 1300 657 423 or fill out the form on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are other methods for protecting your blog post. Firstly, you can disable text selection on your blog to prevent others from mass-copying and pasting your work. Secondly, if your lifestyle blog includes photographs, you should consider adding a watermark alongside your copyright notice to prevent your image from being reproduced.
If you want to use copyright-protected works on your blog, you should obtain permission from the copyright owner. Obtaining either written or verbal permission from another creator will also build your rapport within the blogging community.
Unless you are the author of the comments, it is usually the person who wrote the comment who will own the copyright to their comment. A person who posts a comment on your blog would generally give you an implied licence to display their comment on your blog.