Making a living in the creative industries means many different things to different people. For some it represents an ideal of creative freedom, for others a business strategy. Individual motivations and roles are as varied as the activities that make up the creative industries – a sector that includes a range of activities from architecture to production of video games.
Whatever creative industry role interests you, and whatever your motivation, intellectual property (IP) is crucial.
Building a successful career in music involves abilities to manage IP rights. WIPO supports authors and performers in enhancing their knowledge of the intellectual property aspects involved in their professional work. Copyright and related rights can help musical authors and performers to generate additional income from their talent.
In this area of work WIPO is assisting music professionals in identifying their income streams, based on their IP. It provides practical information to authors and performers who are in the process of establishing themselves in the market and clarifies the interface between talent and creativity on the one hand and management skills and entrepreneurship, on the other hand. An important factor for success is the existence of an enabling infrastructure involving copyright management structures and appropriate compensations schemes.
Films are considered an important art form with social, cultural and economic impact. They are essentially collaborative works, fusing the creativity and effort of a multitude of collaborators: scriptwriters, actors, directors, costume and set designers, music composers, to name a few.
Copyright is present in all stages in the making of the film (development, financing, marketing and distribution) and it is important that key players in the industry know what and how the various rights can be protected. It is necessary that contractual agreements defining copyright ownership and its use be put in place, not only to protect the interests of all concerned, but also to facilitate financing and distribution, avoid costly disputes and reduce the risk of illegal reproduction.
To build awareness about the importance of copyright in the making of films, WIPO collaborated with public and private partners in the film industry and implemented technical cooperation projects in the field of creative industries in coordination with other relevant entities. An important development in this area is the recent adoption of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, which formally recognizes and strengthens the economic and moral rights of performers.
The WIPO Academy offers an advanced distance learning course in copyright and related rights, including the collective management of rights.
People working in different creative industries, such as music, film, publishing, and now interactive entertainment software – or video games – have specific information needs regarding different intellectual property (IP) issues. WIPO’s “How to Make a Living” publications address those needs.
The video game industry - where cutting edge creativity meets the latest technology - is the fastest growing content sector in the world. Yet its entrepreneurs and creators, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, may be unaware of the legal and business implications of IP when they create and distribute content. Video game developers may, for example, have little knowledge of the importance of copyright in negotiating contracts that will determine ownership of the creative content in their video games.
Mastering the Game: Business and Legal issues for Video Game Developers explains key business and legal issues to help video game developers promote and protect their copyright works.
Copyright is perhaps the most significant intellectual property (IP) right in relation to the publishing industry. Publishers, at the outset, need to acquire from authors the exclusive rights of reproduction and distribution, which are recognized by the WIPO-administered Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) and the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT).
Publishers play a key role in making literary works known and available to the reading public. They are responsible for acquiring, preparing, managing, marketing, selling and distributing such works. They are also the creators, managers, acquirers and custodians of numerous IP rights, possessing certain rights in the books that they produce and sell, and holding rights on behalf of third parties.
To a large extent, the relationships in the publishing industry are traditionally managed on an individual, or rather on a one-to-one basis. Yet the increasingly widespread use of the photocopying technology has led to an explosion of the reproduction of printed works. Copying takes place everywhere and by everybody. Consequently, rights holders mandate organizations to manage their rights collectively. Such organizations issue licenses for the reproduction of literary and artistic works. They collect the fees, and channel them back to the authors and publishers. In the case of literary works, such collecting societies are known as Reproduction Rights Organizations (RROs).
The WIPO Academy offers a distance learning course on managing IP in the book publishing industry, which serves as a basic guide to publishers who wish to increase their understanding of how to manage IP rights in a business context.
The advertising industry plays a key role in marketing strategies of enterprises. Advertising has become an important strategic tool for enterprises wanting to stand out or position themselves in the market place. The importance of advertising is increasingly appreciated by enterprises given the intensification of competition among producers/providers of goods and services.
Technological advances have enhanced the capacity of enterprises to reach out to potential customers in distant markets. At the same time, customers continue to be faced with multitude of products and services in the market place from which they have to choose in order to have optimal satisfaction and value for their money. This reality has lead to the growth of the Advertising industry and advertisements are the main products of the industry. However, for an advertisement to be released to a potential market, it requires inputs from a combination of creative works, most of which are protected by intellectual property (IP).
WIPO’s publication “Managing Intellectual Property in Advertising Industry” provides details of the value chain in the preparation of an advertisement, the types of IP that are associated with a particular creative work contributing to the advertisement, important issues in managing IP in the advertizing industry and some best practice case studies.
A growing number of studies have recently demonstrated the impressive contribution of creative enterprises to economic growth, jobs and wealth creation.
These enterprises which are professionally involved in the creation, production and distribution of creative goods and services have established themselves as an integral component of the vibrant creative economy. They often rely on various forms of intellectual property (IP) to boost their income streams.
WIPO supports creative businesses entrepreneurs in enhancing their IP knowledge, management skills and ability to grow their businesses. In its capacity building activities in this specific area it focuses on understanding the specifics of the creative markets, their funding, marketing and managing IP assets in the process of setting up and running viable creative businesses.
