Keeping your digital property safe will be crucial to keeping your company profitable. If someone else takes it they could profit from it instead of you. Or they could even release it for free so that you can no longer charge for doing things that require it.
Once you put something online it is available to a much wider audience than before. Yet, you cannot just keep everything offline, as having your work spread across the internet may be fundamental to you making money from it. Think an influencer who needs their blogs and photos to be seen by many people in order to receive payment from sponsors. Or a band who needs people to be clicking on their songs and hopefully telling others about them in order to get a record contract and make some money from sales.
Or, having it online may be crucial for storage and easy access for your employees.
Here are some steps you can take to protect them:
#1. Understand what they are and what they are worth
This is a fundamental place to start and will inform the actions you need to take. A badly taken photo probably does not need protection. A fantastic one might of something people will want to see might.
#2. Restrict access
Passwords can keep the wrong people out. Consider what you give employees and clients access to. Most won’t need access to much of your work. That reduces the number of people who could take it for the wrong reasons.
#3. Use non-disclosure agreements
You do not need to use these with all employees, just those that have access to valuable information.
#4. Use trademarks and copyrights
These work for many digital items too. Registering work as yours with the appropriate authority is wise.
Consider legal help to create a plan to protect your digital property rights.