Protecting Your Personal Brand

Your brand is everything: it’s how people view you, it’s your reputation, and it’s who you are. Many people see celebrities carefully craft their personal image and brand using social media and online profiles, but don’t realize that brand management is not just something for the rich and the famous to do. Rather, anyone who has a social media or online presence should consider the importance of personal branding and should take steps to protect your social media presence from imitators.

While the term “identity theft” might make your brain automatically go to stolen Social Security numbers or stolen credit card information, your online identity can be stolen as well. Every year, more and more cases of people or hackers taking the online identity of someone else and using it for nefarious purposes are coming to light. The problem is that the Internet is so large that it is hard to detect cases on online imitation. But there are ways to protect your social media presence from other people.

Branding Yourself

Anyone can build his or her own personal brand through social media. And when you do, you own that brand. Someone cannot just use a picture of you that you own or use your name without your permission (limited exceptions apply, such as in journalism). Below are a few ways that you can protect your brand.

Trademark Your Name or Catchphrase

Intellectual property rights protect intangible assets be creating enforceable legal rights in intellectual property. Depending on what your brand is, it might make sense to see about getting trademark protection on your name. Countless celebrities have obtained trademark protection for their names, catchphrases, band names, and even football touchdown signature moves.

Obtain Copyright Protection For Your Photos or Art

 If part of your brand is that you are a creative, then your works need to be protected. While copyright protection attaches to a work the moment it is made, the copyright doesn’t hold much legal bite until you register your copyright works with the S. Copyright Office.

Police Your Brand

Part of having a personal brand is to monitor it and make sure that others are not using your brand without your permission. Keep an eye out for unauthorized uses of your brand or intellectual property, and if you come across any, take legal action immediately to put a stop to it. You can send takedown notices, cease and desist letters, or can file a lawsuit to put a stop to unauthorized use of your brand.

If you have questions about protecting your brand, please contact Parsons & Goltry online, or by calling 480-991-3435.