Copyrights last your lifetime plus 70 years and happen automatically, while patents need filing and only last 20 years. As a 1099 contractor, you keep ownership and can negotiate royalties and residuals. Build a business around original work to capture long-term monopoly protection.
Copyrights are so much more powerful than patents. For example, patents only last 20 years, while copyright is yours for your entire lifetime plus 70 years, which is basically multiple generations. The other thing is that patents, you have to file them, and the copyright is yours at the moment of creation. This exists in the United States. States. So if you're creating an intellectual property business, it pays to create your own content— written, visual, performance art, compilations, things in this area. You have the power of monopoly protection provided by the United States government. It is law. And so as you think about creating a business, think about copyrights because you will own those for such a long time. This piece of content I'm creating right here that you're engaging with is mine and I own it, or whoever I deem to license it, for over 100 years, the rest of my lifetime plus another 70. It's really important. If you need help protecting your own content, we have some of the best relationships with the best intellectual property attorneys in the United States. Let's go creatives! All right, have a great day. Happy Monday, everybody. Oh, and one more thing you need to keep in mind, and this is very important. If you're a W-2 employee of another company, it's highly likely that when you were hired and signed on, You signed over the rights to your intellectual property to that company. However, if you're a 1099 contractor and you create your own content, you have the ability to license that to a company for their use, one time, in perpetuity, whatever you want. You can write it into your own contract. Heck, you can even write, if you want, residuals and royalties into it, so you get a percentage of every sale in the future forever. Imagine if the inventors of the iPhone got a check every month, every time an iPhone was sold. This is what we're talking about. Here's to the inventors. Go team! Disclaimer, not legal advice.
