PowerPoint Template licence for use

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Guest

If I design a template for a corporate client and sell it to them is there a
way to copyright it so they have exclusive ownership of 'look and feel'?
Aside from the time producting the template, can I also charge a licencing
fee for clients to use exclusively throughout their organisation?
 
Copyright laws vary from country to country, so I would strongly suggest an
appointment with a local copyright attorney.

As I understand it (I'm not a lawyer), in the USA, any work created is
copyrighted from the moment of creation. Getting a legal copyright makes
defending the copyright easier should it ever go to court, but is not
required. You can sell your rights to an original work you created, and
charge any price you want. The terms of the sales contract can be defined
by you and the company and can include usage, purpose, or duration of
rights. You can not copyright a "look" or "feel", only a created work.
Note also that collages and compilations of other works require usage
permissions from their owners.


--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
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vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..
 
If I design a template for a corporate client and sell it to them is there a
way to copyright it so they have exclusive ownership of 'look and feel'?
Click to expand...

I don't believe we have any lawyers here to give advice on that sort of thing,
but with intellectual property like this, you own the copyright so long as you
haven't signed it away to the client. In the event of a legal dispute, your
claim may be stronger (and cause the other team's lawyers to back off more
quickly) if you've actually registered the work with the copyright office, but
it's not strictly necessary, I'm pretty sure. If your lawyer tells you
different, go with his or her advice though.

Is there any way to prevent "unauthorized" people from using the template? Not
really, other than the threat of a lawsuit for copyright infringement if you
catch them at it and figure it's worth the trouble of suing them.
Aside from the time producting the template, can I also charge a licencing
fee for clients to use exclusively throughout their organisation?
Click to expand...

You can charge them whatever you figure they'll pay for. Look at the silly
fees we're constantly getting whacked for by banks and telcos. I get nicked
five bucks a month for the *privilege* of getting a bill from mine.

And the banks and telcos are still in business. Either they all practice the
same rape and pillage act, so there's no advantage in moving, or everybody's as
much an idiot as I am for putting up with it. <g>
 
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