Story by
Paul Sawers
Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check h Paul Sawers was a reporter with The Next Web in various roles from May 2011 to November 2014. Follow Paul on Twitter: @psawers or check him out on Google+.
We briefly covered Myows back in September, in our 5 ways to protect your work online feature.
Myows (a contraction of ‘My Original Works’) lets users register their copyrighted files online, and also provides guidelines on how to build a case against infringement of their work. It also makes contact with infringing parties on behalf of its users.
After uploading your file to your personal account, you can then generate a certificate proving ownership, license the work to others or even open a copyright violation case directly from within Myows.
Now, Myows has announced a series of updates and new features, such as a contract generator, which allows users to generate a custom copyright transfer contract. With an attorney on the team, Myows assures us that these contracts are airtight and allow users to shift intellectual property (IP) assets safely without spending thousands on a lawyer.
Once you select the type of contract and answer some general questions, this is what you could typically end up with:
The latest incarnation of Myows also has a copyright detection feature built-in, giving users the tools to identify unauthorized copies of their work online. It’ll find ‘likely’ infringements using details from within text, or image works via Google:
In addition to a handful of interface enhancements, a new 4-tier pricing structure has been set up. The free account now support 3 original works in total, 9 original works cost $5 per month, 24 will set you back $9 a month whilst $24 will entitle you to 100.
Launched in 2009, the South Africa-based startup has been entirely bootstrapped thus far, and caters for everyone from photographers, writers and designers, to artists, journalists and bloggers. “My interest in copyright and how to protect it spiked in 2008 when I started thinking about selling digital goods online,” says founder Max Guedy. “The threat of unauthorized redistribution was real and I decided to focus my efforts on creating a solution I would be willing to use.”
➤ Myows
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