Q) Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?
A) *Protect yourself from copyright infringement and protect your work*
- as strongly advised by a lawyer turned writer whose workshop I attended at the weekend.
Over the past 20 years, she's dealt with so many clients who (a) didn't think that anyone would care about their infringement (typically because they thought they were 'too small'); or (b) didn't protect their own work adequately, only to see it stolen and/or commercialised by someone else profiting on what they'd done.
She also pointed out how if you suddenly find yourself being sued for breach of copyright years after the event (perhaps once you've become more successful or even famous), it's incredibly disruptive and will cost you much, much more (time and money) than it would have done to take the appropriate steps in the first place. So always pay first (if necessary) or offer to pay later (after the fact) if you hadn't realised.
Thank you, Phil. This is a really practical piece of advice.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I'm an artist and one of my friends just found his work on sale on a website that he didn't give permission to.
ReplyDeleteSwim Finn Sorry to hear that. Yeah, musicians, writers, photographers, etc always have a hard time not getting ripped off, from outright breaches of copyright to attempts to get work for free (because "it'll give you 'exposure' or 'experience', etc).
ReplyDelete