Copyright Ownership and Infringement Issues in the Digital Age

Whether you are an individual or a business owner, it is important to understand copyright ownership and infringement issues in protecting your digital work and in publishing online contents to the public.

So, what is copyright?

Copyright is one of the common types of intellectual property, and Intellectual property (IP) is defined as a property that derives from the work of the mind or intellect; specifically : an idea, invention, trade secret, process, program, data, formula, patent, copyright, or trademark or application, right, or registration relating thereto (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.).

Though copyright does not protect words, phrases, and logos that are used in business to identify the source of goods and/or services (as what trademark does), copyright protects the way facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation are expressed.

Copyright Ownership
Hence, the copyright law can protect your personal or business digital works like literary, publication, art, design, photo, music, computer programme, film, etc - enabling you, the copyright owner to allow or restrict personal and commercial usage of your work.

These restrictions may come in the form of putting up terms and conditions or implementing access control (eg: password protection, disallowing copy/ download, etc) for the use of your contents, digital watermarking, etc.

Copyright Infringement
The digital age together with the establishment of social media platforms have driven the increase of content creation in/ for the Internet. With ease of uploading and downloading contents from the Internet with the click of a button, one has to take note of the related online IP issues when using copyright works.

Some users assume that it is ok to use others’ copyright works for internal business engagement. However, it is necessary to seek permission or purchase the contents from the copyright owners when using copyright works for both internal and external business engagements/ operations.

Even for personal use, one has to take note of the terms and conditions before downloading or uploading the copyright materials.

When purchasing copyright contents, one has to be aware of the stated terms and conditions by the content owners on the applicable limitations (eg: to verify if the materials purchased are royalty-free) and exceptions (eg: to verify if the materials purchased can be distributed in the online channels you plan to use) for usage of the contents.

New Challenges with the Raise of Social Media Platforms
Though copyright law disallows users to re-publish copyright contents, the surge of social media platforms poses a great challenge for copyright owners to protect their works. The exponential increase of social network users makes it difficult for copyright owners to monitor the illegal sharing of copyright contents. Moreover, site owners like YouTube, Facebook, rapidshare, etc have protected themselves with terms and conditions and disclaimer clauses from their user generated contents.

On the other hand, as a content owner, if your intention is to use social media platforms for viral marketing,you have to consider on how or to what extend do you allow the re-publications of your contents by social network users.

My thoughts on Jack’s Place’s campaign - Taste the Canadian Difference

The fun facts of Canada captured my attention when I dined at Jack’s Place yesterday.





The Ad Header- Taste the Canadian Difference
Even though the headline, “Taste the ??? Difference” is not a new concept; it is a good choice as this is the sub-header used by the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s website (http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/info/info-can-eng.htm) to promote the quality of Canadian food products.

However, I feel that the Ad could have make more of an impact if it highlights the Canadian Feast as a joint promotion of Jack’s Place with the High Commission of Canada (stated in Jack’s Place website: http://www.jppepperdine.com/component/content/article/29-highlights-of-the-month/435-taste-the-canadian-difference).


The Ad Body
The text of the Ad focuses on the quality of Canadian food, facts about Canada’s culture, and the food that Jack’s Place serves – in the attempt to draw consumers to the Canadian dinning experience at Jack’s Place.

However, the Ad is quite wordy, and it would have been better if it portrays or relates the unique flavours of Canadian food to the food that Jack’s Place offers for its Canadian Feast.


The Artwork
The artwork is family-oriented with a strong appeal to kids as it fills its reader with a fun and vibrant Canadian experience (the colours of red and white) and it uses animations and graphics to showcase the culture and the map of Canada. But, the question is – the Canadian Feast does not include a kid menu.

So, I was a little confused on the design direction of the Ad though I enjoyed reading the “do you know sections” of the Ad that brought back my childhood memories!


The Call for Action
There is a bundle promotion which presents a good deal to consumers - to get a set meal (that includes soup, dessert, and coffee/ tea) at an additional cost of S$4.50 or S$8.80.

However, what puzzled me is the name of the “set meals”. A “Set Meal” promotion is cheaper than a “Big Saver Meal” promotion. Though the later, does provides the consumer with more choices, the title of Big Saver does not sounds that attractive to me with its higher price.

A consumer who is price conscious would probably choose a cheaper set meal, and one who selects a higher cost set meal would probably place more emphasis on the food options and quality rather than the price. Hence, personally, I would prefer the name “Executive Set Meal” than “Big Saver Meal”.

Amidst the interesting facts, the bright graphics, and the pictures of the sumptuous food, there is a section of the Ad that will definitely capture a consumer’s attention – the Grand Lucky Draw. And, the prize - a bottle of ice wine.

Though, generally natural ice wine is relatively expensive, however, as a consumer, one would have expected a “little” more for a “Grand” Lucky Draw prize. If I may suggest, I think the Ad would be more attractive if the prize is not marketed in the angle of a Grand Lucky Draw, but rather an extension of the diners’ Canadian experience from the good food to the quality wine.

Social Media Marketing - Insights from the National Sales & Marketing Congress 2010

Social media marketing - the “in” thing right now for marketers.

To keep myself abreast with the latest buzz in social media marketing and to gain further insights to the next leap in this industry, I attended the 2-day National Sales & Marketing congress at Carlton hotel organised by Marketing Institute of Singapore.


Insights - Where do I start?

Ok, I shall share my thoughts/ insights gained on the topics on social media marketing.

Importance of SOCIAL Media Marketing
Research shows that only 18% of TV ads generate positive ROI and that consumers are increasingly spending more of their time on the internet in comparison to television. However, organisations are still spending a big bulk of their advertising budget on traditional media.

The impact of internet and social media marketing cannot be ignored by any organisations - whether your business is B2B or B2C as consumers’ time spent on the internet will continue to increase exponentially with the explosion of social media platforms.

Your Organisation’s Needs
Organisations try to keep up with their audience and the evolving communication platforms, and some eagerly engage in social media platforms for the sake of having a presence in the social marketing channels.

Marketers have to set clear objectives and perhaps to consider some of the following factors before embarking on social media marketing:

• The social media channels to select - for B2B vs B2C business?
• Sustainability and engagement – for Sales/ PR/ Branding?
• Continuous consumer engagement – beyond the product launch?

As quoted by Mr Ryan Lim, Founder and Business Director, Blugrapes during the seminar, a successful social media campaign requires quality, quantity, and sustainability.

It is no good starting a social media tool if you're going to abandon it after a few weeks.

Paradigm SHIFT of Power
Social media platforms have “flatten” the way organisation communicates with its consumer. There is a paradigm shift of power from organisations to consumers. Hence, there is a need to shift from communications to conversations with your consumers - from insights, engagements, acquisition, campaigns to advocacy.

Research shows that 78% of consumers trust their peers’ recommendations and only 14% of consumers trust advertisements. It is evident that it is people that drive users’ perceptions of the brand/ products. Hence, the new challenge in marketing is the contents created by people and not the competitors.

As commented by Mr Kalyan Ram Challapalli, Director Strategy, Leo Burnett Singapore, during the seminar, marketers have to understand the shift from “My” Hero to “Me” Hero.

Marketing through consumers’ aspirations to be that “somebody” will no longer work as social media allows consumers themselves to become that “somebody” - with social platforms to post their comments, thoughts, photos, videos, etc and have followers, fanpages, newsfeeds, etc through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.

The manifest of consumers’ self-satisfaction and attention paranoia has heightened the power of viral marketing. Hence, user engagement and marketing efforts of the brand and products should stretch beyond the campaigns as it is the consumers that drive the experience and the purchase of your products.

What about the ROI of Social Media Marketing?
It is relatively easier to measure ROI in tradition media. As for social media, your fans and followers; re-tweets; site and video views; ratings; and communities are not financial assets reflected on the balance sheet. However, that does not mean investing in social media is valueless, as social media should be treated as a “total value approach”.

Marketers have to recognise that its benefit go beyond simple dollars and cents. We have seen many examples of organisations that reaped the benefits from social media marketing, that includes, having fans loyalty to their brand that led to viral marketing and possible repeat purchases; the ability to cut cost through money saved on media buying; the reduction of operation costs of the call centre operation; etc.

Back to basics - FUNDAMENTALS of Marketing
Yes, social media platforms have shifted the power of marketing to the hands of the consumers. So, do marketers have to change the way we do marketing?

Social media platforms are just tools for marketing. Consider the evolution of marketing tools from print, TVCs, Internet, to social media, the fundamentals of marketing (satisfying the consumers needs, building relationships, enhancing user experiences, etc) since 1950s remain the same.

What’s NEXT? - The Next Leap…Technology has always presented us with new marketing tools and the impact of the evolving technology on marketing is evident.

Mr Haresh Khoobchandani, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer & Online, Microsoft Asia Pacific, has shared in the seminar on Microsoft’s vision (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQdGvfV4WnU) on creating technologies that allows a seamless connection of various electronics devices.

The technology evolution of electronics devices will open a gate in taking marketing to a whole new level that allows marketers to have a seamless marketing approach for their campaigns.

So what is the next big thing in social media marketing? Mr Manoj Sharma, CEO, ManojSharma.com shared an interest concept, “small minds talk about people; bigger minds talk about events; and the greatest minds talk about ideas”.

It is just like the theory of the blue ocean strategy, but to take an even further step ahead - marketers have to stop trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing and to look beyond the current situation in rethinking and strategising to leap ahead.

Regardless of technology evolution or the next big leap in marketing, to bring our brands and products out of the clutter, noise, and confusion in the market is still the “exciting” challenge that marketers like myself face…

Data sources from http://www.socialnomics.com