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    > Setting up a gallery page in The Circle Database

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    > A Beginner's Guide to Using Twitter

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    > Trade Show 101

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    >Think before you type: Social media and defamation law

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    >Protecting your own name as a trademark {Full Members only}

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    >Trademarks, Copyrights, Designs & Patents: An overview

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    >Making to Sell

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    >Marketing Basics

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    >What Makes a Successful Brand

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    >A Guide to Colour Terminology

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      The CWC would like to thank Frankie & Swiss for their ongoing support.

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    Category Archives: guest blog

    Posted on August 21, 2011

    Trademarks, copyrights, designs and patents… an overview part II

    Nikola Errington is back this week for part two of her legal glossary*. See part one – trademarks and copyrights – here. Thanks, Nikola!


    Designs

    A design is defined by the relevant statute as “…in relation to a product, means the overall appearance of the product resulting from one or more visual features of the product”. Visual features include the shape, configuration, pattern and ornamentation. They don’t include how the product feels, or what materials it is made of. If these distinctive elements add up to something that makes your product distinctive, you can register the design.
    It’s important to note that design registrations don’t cover how things work, and are different from inventions (which may be afforded patent protection, discussed below). For example, Bodum has various design registrations for their kitchen appliances. They didn’t invent the teapot, but they do have design protection for their design of the teapot.

    Patents

    Okay, this is probably the most complicated of these terms, but basically, this will relate to a legal protection for a new invention (including devices, substances, methods or processes), that have a use. Generally, artistic works are not covered by patents. It is important to note that if you tell lots of people about your invention, without imposing a confidentiality agreement, before filing a patent application then you will risk not being able to register since it will form part of the public domain.
    However, it is also worth noting that once you do file for an application, you have to fully disclose how it works, what it is made of, how it was made etc. Patents are COMPLICATED. Definitely go and see a professional if you think you have an amazing invention that could make you millions, and keep it hush-hush!
    For more information on trademarks, copyrights, patents and designs
    IP Australia has a wealth of information on their website for further clarification on some of these terms. There are also Arts Law Centers in most major cities in Australia that may be able to give some free advice. There is also the Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorneys of Australia, that can hook you up with a professional should you need it.*Note that this is simply an explanation of a few key terms and should not be substituted for professional legal advice.


    Posted by: Tess McCabe
    Categories: guest blog | Comments Off
    Posted on August 14, 2011

    Trademarks, copyrights, designs and patents… an overview

    Today I’m excited to introduce a dear friend and super-smart law lady Nikola Errington to the guest blog. This week and next, Nikola is going to define for us in basic words some key legal terms that pertain to products and creative ideas. Take it away, Nikola!

    Hi everyone – Tess has asked me to write a few words about some pertinent Intellectual Property terms that might pop up in the lives of those who mix in creative women’s circles. I’ll cover a few basics regarding trademarks, copyright, designs and patents, the major tenants of Intellectual Property law*.

    Trademarks

    Trademarks are distinctive words or symbols used to distinguish between goods and services. For example, “Frankie” on magazine publishing, or “Gorman” on clothing . 
    This is as opposed to a trademark that is not distinctive, for example, if I name my new batch of home-made radios, “Radios”. No good. 
    The theory behind trademark protection is essentially that consumers deserve not to be confused, so when given the choice between two radios, they should be able to identify the maker by use of a distinctive word or symbol. Australia has a trademark registration system, administered through IP Australia. 
    It is not compulsory for you to register your trademarks, but it is a good idea. If you are successful at registering your trademark, it means that you have an exclusive right to use it. It means that no-one else can, and it also means that it has been determined that no-one registered it before you. 
    With this in mind, it is really important that before you start using a trademark ie. whacking it on your new fashion line or opening a new shop, you should check out what trademarks are already registered. You can do this through IP Australia’s database search.

    Copyright

    This is a legal protection for the expression of ideas. I want to emphasise that it is a protection for the expression of an idea, not your idea. 
    For example, I had an idea that I would write a book about a girl who kicked a hornet’s nest when I was twelve years old, but I did not write said book. I therefore have no claim that my copyright was breached following the publication of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, (unfortunately). 
    Copyright protection is afforded to paintings, drawings, books or something that could be defined as a “works of art or literature”, music, films, sound recording, broadcasts and computer programs. 
    Copyright is not registered like trademarks, designs or patents, rather it is a right that arises as soon as it comes into existence ie. the comic is drawn, or the film script is typed up. If I had written my idea down for the girl and hornet’s nest story down in 1993, maybe I would be in a different position right now…
    Next week, I’ll define the terms Design and Patent. See you back here next Monday!

    *Note that this is simply an explanation of a few key terms and should not be substituted for professional legal advice


    Posted by: Tess McCabe
    Categories: guest blog | Comments Off
    Posted on August 8, 2011

    A beginner’s guide to using Twitter

    Twitter is a great way to connect with friends and like-minded people and organisations, chat and share links, inform your fans and customers of what is new with your business, and generally keep up to date with what is happening on the world. Many women who attend the Creative Women’s Circle events first meet each other on Twitter, or stay connected via Twitter after meeting at an event.

    Think of Twitter as part chat-room, part Facebook ‘status update’ feed, but limited to 140 characters.
    Today I’ve collected together some tips and facts about Twitter to help you get the most out of this social networking tool. Add your own thoughts in the comments if you like!
    ——
    1. When people visit twitter online, they see the updates of everyone they follow on their own home page, so your followers won’t necessarily ever see your twitter page. But you can make it look nice with backgrounds and colours, and of course your avatar.
    2. If you want to address someone specifically in a tweet, start the tweet with their @name. Note that this is not a completely private conversation, as the people who follow you AND that person will all see the tweet.

    3. If you want to tweet about someone and have all your followers see it, make sure to start the tweet with a word or a symbol that is not the person’s @name. E.g.

    @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! (only people who follow both you and @_cwc will see this tweet) 

    Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! (all of your followers will see this tweet) 

    . @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! (all of your followers will see this tweet, because there is a punctuation mark before the ‘@’ symbol at the start of the tweet) 

    4. If you mention someone or an organization in a tweet, it’s a good idea to use their @name so that people can see that they are on Twitter. Also, the person or organisation is more likely to see your tweet and respond to it. 

    Thanks to @jen_henderson for our recent guest blog post! goo.gl/cZpXj

    5. Because you’re limited to 140 characters in each tweet, you want to keep hyperlinks short and sweet. Use link-shortening services such as Goo.gl, bit.ly or tinyurl.com.The tweet above links to the CWC blog post ‘http://www.creativewomenscircle.com.au/2011/05/what-makes-successful-brand-part-ii.html‘ – as you can see the goo.gl address is much shorter!
    6. #ff stands for ‘Follow Friday’. It’s a little twitter tradition in which you tweet #ff followed by the addresses of people you follow who you think others should follow, on Fridays. You might group them into categories e.g. 

    #ff terrific with textiles: @pippijoe @Kirin @Teegs3 @HarvestWorkroom @AisGallagher @funkyfabrix @KristenDoran @nikkishell


    7. RT stands for re-tweet. You can automatically retweet a tweet from your timeline if you want all your followers to see it. It will appear to your followers like this:
    RT @tessmccabe Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! (all of your followers will see this tweet) 

    Some third-party twitter apps let you comment on a retweeted tweet, so you can tweet something like this:
    I’ve got my ticket! RT @tessmccabe Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! or

    RT Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! ~ I’ve got my ticket!

    8. Favouriting a tweet is sort of like ‘bookmarking’ a web page. The tweet might have a link to an article you want to read later or a recommendation you don’t want to forget. You can view your favourites on your profile page.

    9. People who follow you won’t always be people who know you, and businesses might have automatic settings that follow users who mention a particular service or product. Did you tweet something about tropical fish? Don’t be surprised if Jennie’s Aquariums start following you now. Similarly, some tweeters have automatic settings that will retweet your tweet if you mention one of their keywords, such as ‘Melbourne’, or reply to your tweet if you mention a celebrity or popular word.

    10. ‘Promoted’ tweets are paid for (like advertising).

    11. A blue tick next to a tweeter’s name indicates that the tweeter has been verified by Twitter as being the real person or organization who is sending the tweets. It’s mainly applied to celebrities and organisations.

    12. Twitter Trends are words, phrases or hastags that are being tweeted the most at any given time. When a big news story breaks you will notice words associated with that story start ‘trending’.

    13. The hash (#) symbol before a word is called a hashtag, and are used as a way to categorise a tweet. You can click on a hashtag to view tweets by anyone, anywhere who has used that same hashtag in their tweet.

    Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle #event! (Note that if there is a space or punctuation mark in a hashtag, it will break the hashtag’s link)

    But sometimes, a hashtag is used as a punchline or feature of a tweet. It might catch on, it might not! E.g.

    Hey everyone, @_cwc has announced a new Creative Women’s Circle event! #cwceventsareawesome

    14. If you want to send a tweet to someone that no one else will see, use Direct Message or ‘DM’ – it’s a bit like email though you are still limited to 140 characters. 
    15. You can keep your tweets private, meaning anyone who wants to follow you has to send a request and be accepted by you. Then, only your accepted followers will see the things you tweet.
    —–

    So, are you on Twitter? Or are you thinking of joining? What good (or bad) experiences have you had with it? 
    I hope this guide has helped. Don’t forget to follow @_cwc to keep up to date with Creative Women’s Circle news and conversations inbetween events.

    Posted by: Tess McCabe
    Categories: guest blog, technical tips | 3 Comments
    Posted on August 1, 2011

    Making to Sell, Part IV: Wholesale

    Sarah‘s final post in her four-part Making to Sell guest blog series focuses on selling your work wholesale. Read her other posts here, here and here - thanks Sarah!

    For those peeps with the capacity to ramp up production, or those making small production ranges from the outset, you might want to consider wholesaling your products.

    Wholesale involves selling products to retailers in bulk at wholesale prices. Retail stockists then on-sell these items to consumers at a retail price. Wholesale prices are usually about half the recommended retail price (RRP) of a product or slightly less once GST is factored in.
    The main difference between consignment and wholesale is that with consignment, products are created then sold. With wholesale, retailers will order/buy goods based on your ability to produce them in bulk. You don’t need to be a mass manufacturer to sell wholesale, but you do need a range of reproducible products. So if you’re a creator of one-offs or items that vary from item to item, wholesale will not be for you.

    To get started, you’ll need a catalogue of your range and some sample products in case retailers want to see the real deal before they place an order.

    So why sell wholesale?

    • Higher sales volume – Volume is the key word in wholesale. While consignment stockists may only take on a small number of your products, selling wholesale requires retailers to place minimum orders.
    • Sell with assurance – When selling wholesale, you take the risk out of producing goods because you create to order. You no longer have to fork out funds for production without knowing you’ll be able to cover your costs. 
    • Upscaling your making – Wholesaling makes you take things to the next level both business and production wise. It’s likely you’re thinking ‘creative biz lady’ as opposed to ‘creative lady making on the side’ if you’re contemplating wholesaling your goods.

    Time investment – Medium to high. 

    There’s much to think about when you start selling wholesale. The first port of call is creating a tip-top wholesale catalogue complete with fab product images, product details, wholesale process and RRPs, along with a wholesale order form. You’ll also need to work out your terms of trade including payment terms and if you’ll accept returns…

    Financial investment – Medium to high.

    When selling wholesale, it’s important to have professional looking sales and marketing collateral. So, in addition to investing in fab product photography, you also need to think about a professionally designed catalogue. Once again, make the most of your connections otherwise consider a pro for the job. It will pay dividends!

    So there you go, making to sell in a nutshell… Hopefully,I’ve given you some insight into the various sales channel and how they might workfor you. Good luck!

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    Posted by: Tess McCabe
    Categories: guest blog | Comments Off