In casual surfing this weekend, I came across a post by Phil Stolle at the ThoughtSparks blog about a subject that many ExpertPreneurs need to learn, as it increases their flexibility in distribution of their creative works.
This has to do with alternatives to the traditional view of copyright for materials which ExpertPreneurs may wish to have more easily distributed without loss of all intellectual property control.
Typical copyright in the U.S. grants copyright holders exclusive rights regarding distribution, reproduction, performance and display of their creative works, as well as control over the making of derivative works from them.
While the copyright holder always has the right to license or transfer any or all of these rights on a case by case basis, or even to disclaim them altogether, an ExpertPreneur will have many occasions where they won't mind having some of their works circulated without advance permission for the publicity and marketing value of that distribution. Yet, they don't want to lose all say over what use is made of these works and how their name is associated with it.
Enter a Creative Commons license, also known as "Copyleft". This license allows the blanket grant of one or more of a copyright holder's exclusive rights on condition of compliance with certain limitations. The Creative Commons web site, linked above, gives you all the details.
Such a relaxed license can be just the ticket for things like ezine articles, blog posts and other types of distribution for the ExpertPreneur who wants more exposure without being accused of waiving his or her intellectual property rights.
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