The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) is placing more emphasis on intellectual property in terms of attributing value to ideas and creativity.

The emphasis may eventually apply to the drafting of contracts to spell out more clearly issues such as who owns the rights to campaigns and how long clients are entitled to run the campaigns.

According to Datuk Johnny Mun, the vice-president of 4As, advertising industry professionals are still "fuzzy" in terms of their knowledge about intellectual property (IP).

To create greater awareness about IP rights and issues for the industry, the 4As organised a one-day workshop in Kuala Lumpur yesterday titled "Protect your creative idea".

The speaker was Samuel Seow, a lawyer who is also with the IP Academy of Singapore. The IP Academy is a national initiative that seeks to promote Singapore's knowledge and capabilities in intellectual property protection, exploitation and management. Among its activities are developing practical IP training and educational courses for IP professionals, business managers and leaders, inventors and creators.

Seow discussed elements of intellectual property law relating to the advertising sector and the issue of rights, and claims to intellectual property rights.

He showed that these rights do not only affect the client and agency relationship, but also with contractors and even employees. He also stressed the importance of clear contracts between parties to avoid disputes surrounding proprietary rights in the future.

"You should always have a written agreement with your client and other independent contractors, and specify the ownership details of each element of the work that will be created. Make sure that you receive ownership rights or a licence that is broad enough so that you can use the advertisement (and all its elements) how and where you want," said Seow.

Elements are things like songs for jingles, taglines for campaigns and even advertising copy.

Tony Savarimuthu, president of the 4As, said on the sidelines of the workshop that the advertising industry is about creativity and ideas, and industry professionals need to attach a value to what they produce creatively for a brand.

It is not so much about time and service anymore, he said. Professionals need to better understand that at the end of the day, they are "ascribing value" to the brand they work for, he added.

It is therefore important to be clear as to the value their work adds to the brand. The intellectual property, which is the idea, gives value to their work, and therefore should be valued accordingly, he explained.

Mun said the industry has been conducting business in a very "friendly" manner and contracts are often vague. Most times, the agency and clients understand that the ideas belong to the clients.

Savarimuthu is of the view that this may need to change, and agencies need to think about claiming proprietary rights to their ideas. The questions of who owns the rights to the campaign, how long can the clients use the campaign, and for what purpose, need to be addressed and stated clearly, he said.

He also said the 4As may look into creating a copyright bank to assist clients in building their own bank of intellectual property.

The event was attended by over 40 industry practitioners.

Source: The Edge