It’s only Wednesday and already its been an interesting week in the Travel Blogging sphere. I’m writing this in Houston, TX today while I have a bubble tea at my favorite Teahouse, call the “the Teahouse.” So what’s been going on?
Intellectual Property Fight
I think it was last week that a fellow travel blogger, Turner Barr, reached out to us, the travel blogging community for help as a company ,Adecco, was using his brand without consent. To make a long story short, after much assistance from his fellow bloggers as well as news outlets picking up the story, it looks like both parties have come to an agreement. Based on the terms of the agreement, we may never know, but its good that they had a resolution. The story does bring up a few points that I’d like to note here:
- The Travel Blogging Community is very close knit and will rise to an occasion to help another travel blogger in addition to other causes that affects us. However, it was interesting to watch how the conversion intertwined as more was revealed about the story. In the end, the infringements were removed, but the whole experience is a case study for group dynamics.
- Protect your brand from the inception. It may mean trademarking it, registering it, etc. Check with your local countries to be certain. In protecting your brand, ensure you do research as well. You can have a great idea, but did you get there first and protect it? That will be important. And if someone is infringing on your brand, don’t be afraid to approach them nicely and let them know. If you have any issues at that point and decide to fight it, contact a professional in that area.
- You should hire people who are skilled in the appropriate areas to help you. Many travel bloggers suggested that Turner consult an intellectual property attorney, but he did not for reasons he outlined in the facebook group post. That’s fine, but I know computers, travel, e-commerce and marketing. I don’t know the law, so I would have found someone who does. But that’s my personal decision. The take away is to get the right person to do the right job.
TBEX EU ’13 Speaker
It’s time to present your speaking engagements for the next TBEX which will be held in Dublin, Ireland in October 2013. I’ve just sent in my topic for this year, let’s see what happens. You can do the same here. Hurry as it all goes poof on July 5, 2013.
If you’ve never attended a TBEX Conference, you should as its a place for you to meet other travel bloggers as well as industry professionals including Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). Plus, you get to see a great city, Dublin and interact with locals, not to mention drink some Guinness and I’m sure get a tour of the Guinness Brewery. So if it fits your plans/goals, you may purchase your tickets for the Dublin event here.
Writing a new course or two
On the heal of the 21-Day Travel Blogging Course, I’ve realized that there are two areas that should be broken out in much more details. So, I’m working on that.
Resources Page
I’ve been writing this page for a few months now; its a new page with a list of resources to help you out. It’s a work in progress, so stayed tuned.
Well, that’s it for this post. If you have any comments on any of the items discussed here, please leave a comment below and let me have it :-).