Hi Reader,

Licensing is one of the most common topics we're hearing about right now.

Coaches, course creators, and designers are all looking for ways to scale without adding more clients or working more hours, and licensing is a real path to that.

If you're unfamiliar: a licensing agreement allows others to use your methods, designs, trademarks, or copyrights, and you get compensated for it. You're granting permission to use your work, not transferring ownership.

A few examples of how this works in practice:

• A coach with a unique client results method can train other coaches to use it in their businesses
• Designers and photographers can license their art to brands for use on products
• Course creators can license their materials to other professionals to use with their own clients

If this is something you're exploring, there are a few legal foundations you'll want to work on getting in place before you begin.

3 things to do before you start the licensing process:

1. Register your trademark now.

I've written before about how many businesses rush to trademark registration before they actually need it. Licensing is the exception. A trademark registration makes your license more valuable and gives you real tools to protect your program from copycats.

The USPTO process can take a year or longer, especially if you hit any complications. Until you have that registration certificate in hand, you don't have a registration number and you don't have the full benefits of federal trademark protection. Start early.
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​2. Register the copyright on your underlying work.

Depending on your program, you may be licensing access to videos, workbooks, audio, instructional materials, or product designs. In the US, copyright protection is automatic from the moment you create something.

But you cannot take legal action to protect that work until you register it with the US Copyright Office. Without registration, you have no real recourse against infringers or, in a worst case, against a licensee who stops paying you and keeps using your materials anyway.
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​3. Do you own everything in your program?

This includes your content, your logo, and any graphic design involved in delivering your program. Many clients come to us ready to launch a license and realize they never got written ownership agreements from the contractors who helped build it.

Before you start, audit all of your materials. Make sure you have clear, documented ownership of everything you plan to license.

Now, Reader... all of these steps, and the ones that come after, really should be reviewed and done with the aid of an attorney who understands your business and licensing process.

That’s where we come in.

At the AWB Firm, we work exclusively with online business owners, especially coaches, course creators and service providers. Our Legal Road Map™️ strategy session was designed to advise you on every step that will be in front of you so we can get to work on them for you.

We’re currently accepting new clients now, so click here to learn more and to apply.

To growing more than ever this year,
Autumn and The AWB Firm Team

PS. If you're not ready for a full strategy session yet, the Fine Print Academy is a great place to start! It's our membership for online business owners who want to build the right legal foundation without the overwhelm.

As one of our members, Claudia Clancy of CCRN Wellness LLC, put it - having this kind of support means she can "focus more fully on serving others, knowing that I am doing things the right way."

​If that resonates, click here to learn more and join us.​