6 Degrees Can Be a Cold Idea

Star Wars made ludicrous amounts of money. Want to know who made out on that one? George Lucas, the creator and writer. Why? He was unwilling to sell the idea to the highest bidder. Now, how many times have you heard of that happening, the creator makes most if not all of the money? How about the number of times the creator gets screwed? Or, how about the number of times do you hear about someone suing because the idea was stolen? That should put into perspective how important it is to protect your idea.

A year ago I was asked to create some creatures for a coworker. She approached me with a great idea for a children's product, The Fossibles. She had a relative that got the small marketing company she worked for interested in what she was doing. At the time it was just a pipe-dream idea. Even so, before I got see anything I had to sign a release agreement. Shortly after I finished creating the character turn-arounds for the Fossible characters... she and the small marketing company had talks lined up with people like Seth Macfarlane and Steven Spielberg. Yes, literally. Now, the The Fossibles is currently in production ( even though they decided to go in a different direction ). Six degrees of separation is not as far as it would seem.

The point I am trying to make ( and a lesson I learned ) is that you NEVER know where an idea can go, or where connections can go. Imagine what would happen if someone in that line of connections stole the idea? If you don't have some sort of record that you created the work or that they stole it, someone else would be rich. Always! Always! Always! Protect your stuff. You may know someone, who knows someone, who knows George Lucas. But you may also know someone, who knows someone who would love to present your idea as his to his friend George Lucas.

DO your research people, here's a start for you...

http://www.copyright.gov
Patents.com
WhatIsCopyright.org
Copyright.com
CopyrightProtection.com

Want to keep up with copyright info? Check out ChillingEffect.org

Lastly, here is a link I think will soon revolutionize the online industry...
Creative Commons ( Edit: Found a related article over at Comixpedia.com )