Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta

Intellectual Property

Can I Copyright My Nonprofit’s Website?

A nonprofit’s website is often the first impression donors, participants and the community may get of the organization.  So, you want to make sure it is informative and engaging and makes a positive impression.  But in this era of copy-paste culture and easy sharing, how can you protect your nonprofit’s website’s content and design code from unauthorized use? That’s where copyright law comes into play. Copyrighting a website is a crucial step to safeguard your intellectual property, but it can be a complex and often misunderstood process. In this episode of the PBPA Podcast, Mike Hobbs with Troutman Pepper will unravel the intricacies of website copyright and will guide you through the essential steps to protect your nonprofit’s website.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE                                                                                                                                           

U.S. Copyright Office

US Copyright Office Circular 66

What’s in a Name?  Legal Considerations of Nonprofit Branding

Episode Transcript

The Fair Use Defense to Copyright Infringement

You may have heard of the “fair use defense”, where certain unauthorized uses of copywritten material may be allowed by law. Here at PBPA, we often get questions from clients about the “fair use defense.”  What really is the fair use defense?  Does it give nonprofits a free pass to use copywritten material?  In this episode of the PBPA Podcast, Jennifer Sandlin with Eversheds Sutherland will answer those questions and more as we review the fair use defense for nonprofits.

Episode 36 Transcript

What’s in a Name?  Legal Considerations of Nonprofit Branding

Whether a nonprofit’s name is based on its mission, location, founder, or something completely unrelated, it is the keystone of the organization’s branding. If you’re deciding on a name for your organization or a new program, or even if you are growing your brand, take a listen to this episode of the PBPA Podcast.  In this episode, Creighton Frommer, Chief Counsel at RELX, guides us through legal considerations in selecting and protecting a nonprofit’s name.

Episode 25 Transcript

Episode 25 Transcript - What's In a Name

Webcast: Using Intellectual Property with Social Media

Social media makes a great way to communicate with nonprofit clients, stakeholders, donors, and the general public. Almost all posts use your organization’s or another’s intellectual property to spread the word. Intellectual property includes copyrighted content (like images, videos, and text), brands and logos and individuals’ rights of publicity. During this presentation, we’ll talk through the best practices and common pitfalls of using intellectual property with social media, including:

  • Properly identifying your organization’s content
  • How to best use others’ content without infringing it, including ‘what is fair use?’
  • What is an “individual’s right to publicity” and how to avoid violating it
  • Why it’s important to train staff and volunteers who post on behalf of your organization about these best practices

Speaker: Creighton Frommer, Chief Counsel, Intellectual Property at RELX

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Beware of Trademark Scams

Applying for a trademark is a crucial step in solidifying and protecting your organization’s hard work and reputation. However, when applying for a trademark, your address, email address, and other details of your registration are added to the public domain. This gives unethical companies the opportunity to flood your mailbox and your email with deceiving notices in an attempt to get you to pay for private trademark renewal services you do not need. Please be aware that you are not required to pay for services through these private companies to renew a trademark registration.

Beware of Trademark Scams

Article- Beware of Trademark Scams

Protecting Confidential Information – Five Steps to Consider

Nonprofits, like all organizations, collect and create information that is valuable to the organization and important to maintain in confidence. Examples include client information (including personal and medical information), donor information, personal information (about board members, volunteers, or employees), as well as other business and financial information that needs to be protected. This article outlines five steps organizations should consider in protecting their confidential information.

Protecting Confidential Information

Article: Protecting Confidential Information – Five Steps to Consider

Webcast: Protecting Confidential Information for Nonprofits

This webinar provides an overview of how to identify and protect confidential business information that is significant to your nonprofit. The presenters will explain the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, clarify the legal differences between confidential information and trade secrets, discuss how nonprofits can use confidential information and trade secrets while continuing to protect them, and provide best practices to protect confidential information and trade secrets when partnering with another organization.

The webinar will review:
– The differences between confidential information and trade secrets;
– How to identify whether your organization has any trade secrets;
– The Defend Trade Secrets Act and its impact on how your organization protects its proprietary information; and
– Best practices for non-disclosures agreements and how to best protect your organization’s proprietary information.

Speaker: William Cloherty, Elavon and Alex Meier, Seyfarth

Please click here to view the webcast.

Protecting Confidential Information

Slides: Protecting Confidential Information for Nonprofits

How to File a Copyright Registration

Nonprofits create many things, from curriculum to videos to websites to music. After expending their limited resources to create things (or to pay others to create them), nonprofits should certainly consider how to protect their rights in those things. Copyright protects works of authorship from unauthorized copying and distribution. An original work of authorship becomes protected by copyright as soon as it is recorded in some physical medium, such as on paper, canvas or computer hard drive. Nonprofits should consider taking the additional step of registering their most important works with the US Copyright Office in order to preserve their rights in the event that someone copies or distributes their works without permission.

Guide to Copyright Registration

Guide to e-filing Copyright Registrations

Webcast: Avoiding the Legal Pitfalls of Using Photos

Photographs promote a nonprofit’s operations unlike anything else. They can be used on websites, in brochures and newsletters, and on social media to demonstrate what an organization is doing in its community. Confusion, however, abounds on when an organization can use photographs legally and under what circumstances.

During this 30-minute webinar, our speaker helps nonprofits understand:

• Basic considerations in using a photograph of people;
• An organization’s rights in using a photograph; and
• How to avoid legal problems when using photographs.

Presenter: John Bush, Bryan Cave

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Avoiding the Legal Pitfalls of Using Photos slides

Webcast: What You Need to Know About Licensing Your Materials

Nonprofits spend many hours working on fundraising brochures, training materials, photographs, and sometimes even software. Each work product is protectable under copyright law and, for some valuable property, is an asset that the nonprofit can license either to further its cause or as a potential revenue stream.

During this 30 minute webcast, our speaker helps nonprofits understand:
• Basic principles of copyright law
• Considerations in licensing a nonprofit’s materials for use by others
• Enforcing a copyright
• Registering a copyright

Presenter: John Bush, Bryan Cave

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Webcast: Practical Tips on How to Conceive and Grow Your Brand

Whether your organization has just been born or has been serving the community for decades, you may not realize that your organization’s trademarks and branding are valuable symbols for trust and quality to those you serve. The reputation of your organization is inseparable from its brand. As a result, it is important that these intellectual property assets are selected with care. It is also critical to protect your trademarks from infringement or dilution by others, which can be common in the nonprofit space.

This webcast will appeal to those both new and experienced in the area of nonprofit brand management. With the opportunity for interactive Q&A, we will generally discuss:

• How to select strong, non-descriptive trademarks.
• How to police your brand and handle infringement disputes.
• Tips on maintaining an effective social media presence.
• Making “creative review” part of your marketing culture.

Presenter: Anuj Desai, Arnall Golden Gregory

Please note that 33 minutes into the webcast we experienced some technical difficulties.

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Copyright Law and Nonprofits: The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Materials from the Internet

Volunteers and employees of nonprofits often pull images and other content from the Internet in preparing newsletters, social media posts and other materials. This can easily expose the organization to liability for copyright infringement. This article provides a basic understanding of copyright law as well as a list do’s and don’ts for using materials from the Internet so that you can help your organization avoid copyright infringement actions.

Copyright Law and Nonprofit

Copyright-Law-and-Nonprofits

Legal Issues for New Nonprofits Webinar 6: Trademarks and Copyrights for Nonprofits

This is part six of an eight part webinar series that provides general legal information about operating a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation. Your nonprofit may have valuable “intellectual property” rights in your organization’s name, logo, program materials and other assets. This webinar will give an overview of intellectual property considerations, and how to best protect these assets.

Presenters: Rick McMurtry, Esq. and Carly Regan, Turner Broadcasting System

Click here to view webinar.

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Webinar 6: Trademarks and Copyrights for Nonprofits

Webcast: Navigating Common Copyright Issues for Non-Profits

Imagine that you have volunteers who prepare the latest, greatest materials for your organization’s new program. Photos were taken, brochures are hot off the press, and training manuals are ready for distribution. You may ask yourself – how can I use these great materials for other future programs? Within this question lies a common, but dangerous misconception – an assumption that your organization owns the materials, and that they can be used in any manner that the organization desires.

Join us for an informative webinar discussing a broad overview of how to navigate Copyright Laws to protect the important work of your organization, specifically focused upon copyright ownership and the use of releases and assignments to protect the broad array of materials created by those within and outside of your organization.

During this webinar, we will discuss:

• Who owns materials created for your organization under U.S. Copyright Laws.
• What are the benefits of Copyright ownership for your organization.
• How can your organization use releases and assignments to ensure protection of copyrightable materials.
• What are the best practices for the use of copyright-protected materials owned by others.

Presenters: Devin Gordon and Kevin Glidewell, Turner

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What Nonprofits Should Know About Intellectual Property

Have your organization invented a product or process? Are your name or original materials protected? Find out about patents, trademarks and copyright from the experts.

Please note that in addition to the legal disclaimer above, this article contains information that is based, in whole or in part, on the laws of the District of Columbia. As a result, the information may not be appropriate for organizations operating outside the District of Columbia.

IP for Nonprofits

Article: Intellectual Property for Nonprofits

Webcast: Truths & Myths about Trademarks & Copyrights

Nonprofits invest a lot of sweat equity into building their “brand” and developing their training or educational materials. As a result, many nonprofits want to protect their name and materials.

During this one hour webinar, our speaker helps nonprofits understand:

  • What are federal and state trademarks and when they are useful
  • Issues associated with the use of name
  • What are copyrights and whether an application is necessary
  • The costs associated with trademarks and copyrights.

Presenter: Richard Rimer, Troutman Sanders

Click here to view the webcast.

Truths and Myths of Trademarks

Truths and Myths about Trademarks and Copyrights