Intellectual property policy nonprofit [Beginner's Guide]



Last updated : Sept 26, 2022
Written by : Gerard Roethel
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Intellectual property policy nonprofit

What policies do nonprofits need?

  • Conflict-of-interest policy.
  • Budget policy.
  • Executive compensation policy.
  • Whistleblower protection policy.
  • Fundraising policy.
  • Donor privacy policy.
  • Document and records retention policy.

Are nonprofits exempt from copyright infringement?

Oftentimes, getting permission includes paying a fee; and because there's a fee, many nonprofits try to use the copyrighted material for free, either hoping they won't get caught or assuming they're covered by some exception. But nonprofits do not have immunity from copyright laws simply because they're nonprofits.

Can a nonprofit infringe on a trademark?

In the event of trademark infringement, your nonprofit will have access to the federal court system to stop the infringement. Without a federal registration of your trademark, you are unable to sue in federal court. You will have exclusive rights.

What are the 4 types of intellectual property rights?

Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are valuable assets of the company and understanding how they work and how they are created is critical to knowing how to protect them.

Why are policies important for nonprofits?

The purpose of policies is to protect and steer the staff and the board as they fulfill the mission of the organization. They are a reference tool for appropriate action, ethical decision making, and for dealing with potential or actual conflicts.

What is a non profit policy?

Description. Nonprofit policies guide the staff and board in appropriate action, ethical decision-making, legal compliance and conflict resolution. Policies and procedures help to diminish liability, potentially harmful situations, improper behaviors and ineffective decision-making.

Can nonprofits use copyrighted images?

The general answer is no. United States copyright law provides certain rights to the owner of the work of authorship that include the exclusive rights to reproduce, publicly distribute, and publicly display directly or through others.

Can a nonprofit own a copyright?

The only way that a nonprofit owns the copyright in a work created by an individual is if: (a) the individual is/was an employee of the nonprofit who created the work within and during the scope of his or her employment by the nonprofit, (b) the work created qualifies as a "work made for hire" under the fairly narrow ...

Can you use any beat for non-profit?

The ability to use free beats for non-profit use depends entirely on the producer that you're working with, a fair amount of producers do allow this but you will find an odd amount of other producers that may not allow it in their terms, meaning that you will have to purchase a lease for the beat that you want to use.

Can I use the logo of a non profit?

You can also license your nonprofit's name and logo for merchandising, which can bring in more money for your organization (but be sure to check with a tax professional before merchandising). Expansion. Having a federal trademark will help you to expand your nonprofit organization.

Do nonprofits need trademarks?

If your nonprofit plans on doing business beyond your geographic area, you will want a federally registered trademark to secure your brand. Registering a trademark protects it in all 50 states, even if your nonprofit is not currently doing business in every state.

Can two nonprofits have the same name?

As discussed in Forming a Nonprofit Corporation, you must include the name of the nonprofit corporation, which typically must include "Corporation" or "Incorporated" or an abbreviation of one of these words, such as “Inc.” or "Corp." Most states will not allow two companies to have the same name, nor will they allow ...

What are the 7 intellectual property rights?

Rights. Intellectual property rights include patents, copyright, industrial design rights, trademarks, plant variety rights, trade dress, geographical indications, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets.

What is the difference between intellectual property and intellectual property rights?

Intellectual property (IP) pertains to any original creation of the human intellect such as artistic, literary, technical, or scientific creation. Intellectual property rights (IPR) refers to the legal rights given to the inventor or creator to protect his invention or creation for a certain period of time.

What is the difference between intellectual property and copyright?

The terms “copyright” and “intellectual property” are often used interchangeably. However, copyright is just a part of the scope of intellectual property, as are trade marks, patents, and designs. Intellectual property (IP) describes a form of property which is the intangible output of the human creative mind.

What policies should a board of directors approve?

  • Board Member Agreement.
  • Code of Conduct.
  • Conflicts of Interest.
  • Document Retention and Destruction.
  • Family Educational Rights Privacy Act Policy.
  • Gift Acceptance.
  • Nondiscrimination.
  • Whistleblower.

What is good nonprofit governance?

A nonprofit's purpose plays a role in good governance, as it holds nonprofits accountable for honesty and ethical dealings. Good governance entails communicating the organization's mission, vision, values and culture to their stakeholders, so the stakeholders can hold them accountable.

What HR policies should a nonprofit have?

  • Code of Ethics.
  • Conflict of Interest Policy.
  • Whistleblower Policy.
  • Leadership Succession and Transition Policy.
  • Executive and Staff Compensation Policies.
  • Document Retention and Destruction Policy.
  • Employee Manual or Handbook.

What are the responsibilities of a non profit board of directors?

Board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission.

What are the responsibilities of a non profit board?

  • Ensure Effective Organizational Planning.
  • Provide Sufficient Resources.
  • Make Sure the Organization Fulfills Legal Obligations.
  • Provide Proper Financial Oversight.
  • Select and Evaluate the Executive Director.
  • Improve the Organization's Public Standing.


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Intellectual property policy nonprofit


Comment by Yulanda Siverly

intellectual property is really really important to everyone in this room why content is king you all know from your membership associations there's been an enormous shift in the United States and owning the words on the page owning copyright or having a good license in what you're using is crucial to running your nonprofit organization you know I've been doing this a long time and when i first started acting as a lawyer for nonprofits antitrust law was the big thing everyone lived in fear of antitrust and then was taxed and then was employment law for the last 15 years or so it's been intellectual property law and the reason for that is simple the rise of the Internet everyone is stealing everybody else's stuff my non-traffic clients are taking things and using them that don't belong to them others are taking things that belong to my clients and using them without permission and it creates lots of nasty legal battles my clients have paid out more for copyright infringement over the last 15 years than for any other source of liability including IRS audits ninety-eight percent of copyright law is summarized thusly and I will fold my hands as I say it because you'll see it has a nice religious ring to it mmm everything belongs to its creator we're talking about the person who creates the words on the page or the image or who speaks the words out loud all that stuff belongs to the guy or gal who creates it if you remember that simple son's everything belongs to its creator and you use that as your guide post as you're considering what you can use so so then you follow it up with the the second part of that and you can't be using it without permission we said they're owned by the creator and you can't be using them without permission so the Creator he has a bundle of rights in that work and two of those important rights are only the Creator can authorize copies of that work and only the Creator can authorize derivative works I want to pause on each of those concepts because this is where my clients get into trouble even if they think to themselves okay i know i don't own this photograph but it's probably okay for me to use it no it probably isn't okay for you to use it I said that there were two important things that the copyright holder got to do with his or her property one of them was controlled the right to make copies and display those copies the second is to create derivative works a derivative work is something where you start with the first work and you change it in some way and create a different sort of work from it I call this the eighth grader problem if any of you are parents you know that your children know how to download things from the internet and then they change it a little and then they turn it in as their homework I myself had my son sitting at the computer one day saying to me Mom how much of this article from the Encyclopedia Britannica do you think I need to change so the teacher will think I wrote it myself so then I proceeded to explain copyright law to him honey no matter how much you changed that article it's still going to belong to the Encyclopedia Britannica it's a derivative work and you don't have permission so getting copyright assignments is crucial and it's particularly crucial when you've got more than one volunteer working on the same work product which brings us to joint ownership what's the deal with joint ownership so you got a committee writing a set of guidelines they jointly owned that and they they owned undivided parts in it and they each have the right to go out and use that now you've got a nightmare scenario as one of my clients did recently for people worked on a work product they didn't think to get the copyright assignment until after the committee finished its work then they went to the committee members and said by the way we need you to sign this copyright assignment well by then one of the committee members had realized this was a valuable work product and he said nope not going to sign it over the other three signed it over the fourth one refused to sign which meant that the fourth one could take this take their work product put it on his own website use it in any way he wanted to because he had an ownership interest in the entire document not just his words now he had a duty to account for the profits he didn't want to sell it he just wants to put it on his own website which makes it pretty worthless to the Association if it's up on other people's websites they want to have it behind the number firewall and it's a value to the members and so on they couldn't get that fourth owner we had to start from scratch use a different set of people come up with a different work product and make sure that those pieces of paper were signed up front this is important stuff it's not that complicated the subtleties get a little complicated but the basic principle that you don't own it if you didn't write it or one of your w-2 employees didn't write it Oh before I claws pause for questions let me just emphasize this bit about why do I keep saying W to employees because one of the ways my clients get into the most trouble is they forget that independent contractors that they're paying on a 1099 they don't automatically on their stuff it belongs to the independent contractor it's got to be a w-2 employee for it to belong to the employer or you have to get a copyright assignment you


Thanks for your comment Yulanda Siverly, have a nice day.
- Gerard Roethel, Staff Member


Comment by Velda

Thanks for this interesting article


Thanks Velda your participation is very much appreciated
- Gerard Roethel


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