For any content creator there are some must do’s when entering the industry. Many of these are easy to miss or skim over. Here’s a list of 5 key things to have covered as a content creator:
- Form a company – you need an established company to trade from and making one helps protect your personal assets from being at risk as you do business. The place to go if you are looking to register in the UK is the Companies House site.
- Trademark company and game names – trademarking helps you protect your name. Formal registration means you can defend game logos. For example, from being copied and can ensure your company name is protected. The place to go for this is the UK Intellectual Property Office.
- Get some Terms of Service in place – these can sit on your website or channel page and determine how you interact with third parties. What rights, liability and ownership you have. A well drafted policy can make disputes resolve easily and set expectations.
- Have a standard Contractor Agreement – this is a must if you are developing your own content. This will make it clear who owns what. The starting position is that if you make it you own it. This of course becomes problematic when you engage others to make things for you. You’ll want to have ownership in what they make and for that you need a robust Contractor Agreement that specifies the terms upon which you work together.
- Get a Privacy Policy in place as well as a data audit – a Privacy Policy specifies what data you hold, why you hold it and how you process it. It also outlines the rights applicable to this data. You will need a Privacy Policy if you are working with a user base. In the course of working with them you will collect and process their data and you need to ensure you are compliant with the law when you do so. Fines for misuse are very costly. Be sure to check the Information Commissioner’s Office for more information.
You will need legal advice for completing these must’s. And it is advisable you take it as soon as possible to ensure you have all bases covered, in the long run it will likely help prevent costly disputes and compliance issues.
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