How Content Licensing Strengthens IP Rights in Creative Industries

Content licensing is what enables content produced for a particular publication or site to be used beyond those realms. In so doing, it protects intellectual property rights attached to that piece, as we’ll see below. 

This area is a big deal because producing engaging content isn’t that easy. Crafting material that speaks to the reader in a particular voice, imparts the necessary information, and keeps them entertained is a time-consuming process that takes real skill to complete. 

This is why, when a writer produces a great piece of content, it’s important that some protection over ownership exists. In a nutshell, that’s the idea behind copyright. Content licensing comes into play when somebody wishes to use that material for an outing beyond its original copyrighted confines. To make sure this is done fairly, content licensing has to take place. 

In this post, we’ll define content licensing and look at its various forms. We’ll then see how it protects and strengthens IP rights in creative industries. 

What is content licensing?

Content licensing is all about granting permission. If a piece of content is well-crafted and relevant in multiple contexts, you may get lots of inquiries about its use in applications beyond its original airing, be it in a magazine, on a site, or via socials. When these requests come in, you have three choices: 

1. Decide to be entirely free and easy about it and tell the inquirer they’re free to go ahead and use your content.
2. Tell the inquirer that the content is yours and yours alone, and they’re not to have it. 
3. Issue the inquirer with a license agreement that authorizes usage for their specified needs.

In a moment, we’ll look at why you might want to go with the third option. Let’s just say for now that options one and two are extremes that you should, in all probability, avoid. The former will remove your IP rights, and the latter means your fantastic content is only seen by a narrow audience.

The content licensing agreement itself is a legal document that sets out exactly what’s permissible as far as content usage is concerned. It can cover written material, as well as images, audio, memes, and all manner of other content types. 

The person wishing to use the material, known as the licensee, applies for permission. If they meet the criteria, they’ll be able to use it accordingly. 

Something to remember: The permission granted is similar to a rental rather than a purchase. The licensee doesn’t get ownership in perpetuity. Instead, a very carefully delineated form of permission is issued, valid only in certain environments and possibly specific timeframes.

Example

Let’s take the example of a website that compares various customer data platforms. It so happens that your own site has already published lots of good material about this very subject. The comparison site owner gets in touch to ask if they can use a number of your articles on their site. 

You take a look at their operation and decide that there’s no harm in allowing your material to be used in this way. The site’s popular and reputable, and it doesn’t pose any competitive threat to you, so it’s okay for them to go ahead and use it.

However, rather than just allowing them to use it freely and without condition, you decide to mark your ownership over the content. 

So, you issue a license agreement for the requestor to read through and sign. Once you issue the license and it gets signed, you can release your material with confidence.

Do note that for this agreement to be worth anything, it needs to be a legal contract, so it makes sense to engage an attorney specializing in IP law. 

In addition, bear in mind that developments in content creation, such as the rise of user-generated content and generative AI for enterprise, can make things more complicated. 

Types of content licensing

There are several different types of licenses in existence to cover all kinds of situations. Let’s go through the main ones.

Exclusive

Exclusive licensing is where the content creator allows the use of their content only by the licensee. No other party can use it, not even the creator themselves. Because the licensee benefits from sole use of the material, exclusive licensing is usually the most expensive option. 

Non-exclusive

Non-exclusive licensing allows the licensee to use the material for certain purposes. However, the creator is also allowed to license it to others, as well as use it themselves. It’s important for licensees to understand that this kind of license will not give them unique access to the material. 

Creative Commons

Creative Commons licensing is where creators permit the public to access and use their copyrighted material. There will probably be an element of researching on a case-by-case basis here, as the Creative Commons license might attach certain conditions to the permissions granted. 

Sole

Sole licensing is like exclusive licensing in that no other party can use the material once the license is granted. However, the content creator retains the right to use it for their own purposes. 

Sub-licensing

Sub-licensing refers to the situation where a licensee permits others to use the material. A provision for sub-licensing has to be made in the original license agreement. Otherwise, this is likely to be in contravention. 

Other

The many other types of content licensing agreements include licenses to use trademarks (especially valuable for businesses making products for other businesses to sell as their own), patent licenses, and even trade secret licenses. 

The last of these covers the ways in which a licensee might gain permission to use confidential information that applies to a business’ practices. In such circumstances, you’ll need to consider personal data security. 

When you’re dealing with confidential licensing matters, look to your business ISMS for data security policies. What is ISMS? It stands for information security management system, and it’s a framework for your company’s approach to data security. 

Advantages of content licensing

There are all kinds of benefits that apply to content licensing. We’ll start with ways that explicitly strengthen IP rights. 

Prevents piracy (both conscious and unconscious)

It’s easy to think of the world of content as a Wild West situation, where you can grab what you need from business and media sharing sites for any purpose. This is especially the case online, where the ability to access and copy is often mistaken for a legal right. 

One of the main problems here is ambiguity. A lack of across-the-board rules about online content has led to misconceptions over what’s allowed. 

By applying clear licensing rules on content (and what’s okay for a reader to do with it), we’re making it easier for people to understand what they can and can’t legally do.

The protection this gives to a content creator’s IP rights is clear. There are legal ramifications for any permitted use transgressions, which serve to promote and strengthen intellectual property rights and to punish those guilty of IP theft. 

Additionally, as content licensing becomes more prevalent, more prospective users will consider it the norm and will stop, think, and ask before they attempt to use someone else’s material. 

Prescribes a response

When a business is approached for content use permission, the decision to approve or deny (and the conditions attached) can depend on who receives the query. An ad hoc approach to the response results in inconsistency. 

A robust licensing framework gives businesses objectivity when granting permission, as it depends less on individual opinion and more on procedure. 

This consistency strengthens IP rights because it standardizes the permission-granting process rather than relying on the whim of an individual. 

Protects further down the road

When a license is granted, conditions are set out over usage, not just for the initial licensee but for subsequent readers. They’ll know if they can use it for their own purposes (whether covered by sub-licensing or free of restriction). 

This removes any confusion over what users can do with the licensed content. This will often be indicated by a line such as “Material reproduced under license from Derrick’s Donuts Inc.”

If no license was issued, it would be unclear to readers whether or not they’re permitted to take it for their own projects. Therefore, creative IP rights could end up diluted or extinguished altogether. 

With the ever-widening use of AI and machine learning in content, it’s increasingly wise to use embeddings for licensing cover conditions. What are embeddings in machine learning? They’re the rendering of words, images, and other material into numerical representations so that AI can extract the meaning regardless of format.

Gives control over content use

Sometimes, content isn’t applicable to every situation. There are certain instances where material created for one application can be disastrously misapplied to another.

Take a piece written as comedy material that’s wrongfully used on a site concerning a serious charitable concern. This kind of mismatch can be ineffective and even offensive. 

So, if you’re a content creator, it makes sense to keep an eye on where your material is likely to end up. This is why content licensing is especially useful. Every instance of use can be inspected prior to permission being granted. 

You can choose to give permission, deny permission, or ask for further clarification on intentions. You can apply whatever conditions you feel are appropriate in order to strengthen your IP rights and ensure your content makes sense in its new application. 

Brings in the cash

The life of a content creator can be an under-rewarded one. Sure, you get to be creative when you have one of the best side hustles to boost your income, which is always a pleasure. But that monetary recompense can be minimal. 

Licensing offers a potential injection of finance, as licensees are usually required to pay a fee for doing anything to do with your IP rights. 

Whether you’ve created a helpful guide on “what is fine-tuning?” or a thought provoking piece about the current state of recycling, the more widely known and highly regarded you are as a content creator, the higher the revenue you can accrue. 

It’s worth being more permissive early on so that your brand becomes popular and licensees are then more willing to pay higher prices. You can rein things in later on when you get snowed under with licensing requests!

Helps to give credibility (and exposure)

This advantage is more for the licensee, but the creator will benefit in turn. A licensee who uses material from a credible source will enjoy a higher level of trust from readers. 

Let’s say a communications company deals in user identity verification techniques. It wants to appear authoritative through its blog articles. It can either produce its own material or it can bring in some trustworthy content from experts, such as the Federal Communications Commission. 

This also benefits the creator in terms of more clicks to their source material via backlinks. Both the licensee and creator can then benefit from improved SERP performance, since credibility and popularity feature highly in Google’s algorithms. 

Clears up disputes

Should any conflicts arise over the licensed use of material, there’s clarity over what’s allowed and what’s not. If you’ve clearly outlined dispute resolution steps to apply in the event of a problem, there should be no nasty surprises for anybody involved in the agreement.

The greater the clarity, the less likely it is that there will be protracted and expensive legal issues. Nobody benefits from legal battles, apart from the lawyers. Content creators can end up out of pocket and with tarnished reputations.  

License to chill

The great news about content licensing is that once it’s in place, everybody can relax. You won’t have to make decisions on the hoof or face uncertainty about the way forward. It’s all there in black and white for everyone to read and act on. 

This means that content creators don’t have to stress about permission rights and copyright laws. When the conditions in the license are clear to prospective licensees, content creators can get on with what they love to do—create.