Post your questions here, and I review thew to seek out an answer, and open up for comments?
At Your Service,
Scott A. Shuford
www.FrontGateMedia.com
CCAS Board Member 2008-2010
CCAS Marketing Committee
2007 Comic Con Panels Director
I think I mentioned this to you once before but this looks like a good place to get input from others on it as well. Copyrighting, Trade Marks, and other means to protect our work from being used or mimic by someone else and the idea or concept being "stolen" from the creator. How does one who does not have a lot of money protect there creations? Example: I have over 50 unique characters, with histories and design concepts. But I am scared to post them anywhere because I am worried the ideas will be stolen and used in a way that I will not be able to use them anymore. I really want to post these and get ideas from everyone but just don't know how to protect my stuff.
Don't get me wrong I don't think the true Christians here would do that. But I do know that others will sign up for these kind of sites just to see the creative ideas of others and use them for themselves.
I just want to not only protect my stuff but everyone else's great work here. Please post comments for everyone to see and help us all be able to promote God's message in the medium He has given us but in a way the world can not use it and get it away from us.
I had some time to research this a bit. Copyrights and trademarks don't have to be super expensive to implement. The real potential issue is that in having them, you can only maintain them if you are willing to enforce the copyright. Generally, that isn't a big issue in that you can search for and demand that people remove use of your
It is possible to DIY copyrights and trademarks. It looks like the small entity fee for 2009 will be $425, though there are various more specific and lower fees for other situations. The US Patent and Trademark Office is online and features extensive menus with everything there is to know about the process. For example, with Trademarks they have a Basic Questions page and an FAQ as well.
LegalZoom.com offers service in this area as well. Their base level is $169 plus the $325 filing fee (assuming that's 2008 fee,) so while I wouldn't walk past that $$ if I saw it in the street, it's not really all that expensive from a business standpoint. I used LegalZoom to incorporate our newest company (Extra Mile Merchandise) and found their process to be decent, and certainly more affordable than the ridiculous process and cost I incurred from a previous incorporation through an attorney.
A quick Google search yields a ton of low cost offers, and I would guess that there will be some "how to" information in there as well.
I hope that is enough information to help you get started or get a little further down the road.
Hi there,
I know Diamond Distributors is tops for distributing secular comics to comic book stores (etc.).
But does anyone know of any Christian distributors that can distribute comics to Christian book stores?
Zondervan and Thomas Nelson have both made deep forays into distribution for Christian comics. You can easiliy pull them up on the web, and several of the members here have been involved with those projects (Buzz Dixon and Bud Rogers jumped immediately to mind.) Patrick Scott at Cahaba Productions (ArchAngels) has done an excellent job of distribution for is line. I'll work on a distribution interview.
Massive topic! I don't know that a success, self-sustaining model has been proven yet. This is an excellent question for the whole group. I'll open it up for input.
Replies
Don't get me wrong I don't think the true Christians here would do that. But I do know that others will sign up for these kind of sites just to see the creative ideas of others and use them for themselves.
I just want to not only protect my stuff but everyone else's great work here. Please post comments for everyone to see and help us all be able to promote God's message in the medium He has given us but in a way the world can not use it and get it away from us.
I had some time to research this a bit. Copyrights and trademarks don't have to be super expensive to implement. The real potential issue is that in having them, you can only maintain them if you are willing to enforce the copyright. Generally, that isn't a big issue in that you can search for and demand that people remove use of your
It is possible to DIY copyrights and trademarks. It looks like the small entity fee for 2009 will be $425, though there are various more specific and lower fees for other situations. The US Patent and Trademark Office is online and features extensive menus with everything there is to know about the process. For example, with Trademarks they have a Basic Questions page and an FAQ as well.
LegalZoom.com offers service in this area as well. Their base level is $169 plus the $325 filing fee (assuming that's 2008 fee,) so while I wouldn't walk past that $$ if I saw it in the street, it's not really all that expensive from a business standpoint. I used LegalZoom to incorporate our newest company (Extra Mile Merchandise) and found their process to be decent, and certainly more affordable than the ridiculous process and cost I incurred from a previous incorporation through an attorney.
A quick Google search yields a ton of low cost offers, and I would guess that there will be some "how to" information in there as well.
I hope that is enough information to help you get started or get a little further down the road.
At Your Service,
Scott A. Shuford
CCAS Board Member
FrontGate Media, Founder/CEO
www.frontgatemedia.com
P.S. ADWEEK Cover Story Features FrontGate Media in Discussion on Role Of Religion In Modern Consumer Culture.
I know Diamond Distributors is tops for distributing secular comics to comic book stores (etc.).
But does anyone know of any Christian distributors that can distribute comics to Christian book stores?
Massive topic! I don't know that a success, self-sustaining model has been proven yet. This is an excellent question for the whole group. I'll open it up for input.
:)
At Your Service,
Scott A. Shuford
Founder/CEO
www.FrontGateMedia.com