We’ve been working on this feature for over 6 months – busting both legal and development challenges – and I can barely contain my excitement as we are nearing releasing the Myows Cogen to the world and offer you a way to generate, send and get approvals for copyright licenses relating to your work.

Before the official launch and accompanying Press Release, we need a few Beta Testers to push the app to it’s limits and report back to us.

If you’re interested in being amongst the first to witness this game-changing new feature, helping our friendly team and generating a few contracts early to manage how you assign your rights, please leave your existing Myows username in the comments below and we’ll hook you up with an account on our test servers.

If you’re a web designer, UI Master, illustrator or general pixel-wrangler, you already know about Dribbble, the exclusive basketball-themed designer club.

To get in with the big boys (and girls) you need an invite – and those are hard to get by. We have one to give away and we need to choose wisely.

How can you get our Dribbble invite?

We’ve thought about it, and to get your hands on it, you’ll need to show us three things:

- That you have talent and produce Original Works
- That you are a Myows User
- That you’ve liked us on FaceBook http://facebook.com/myows (Do it now!)

So here’s how it works:

Simply leave a Facebook comment below with:
1 – Your Myows username (Click here to signup, it’s quick, free and painless)
2 – Reasons why you love Myows
3 – A link to your portfolio
(PS: preference will be given to you if you display one of our Myows Banners on your website)

I look forwards to seeing your Original Works – The winner will be announced on the 17th September 2011

July has been fantastic for your favorite online copyright solution and we are extremely thankful to witness a massive increase in Pro account subscriptions since our Coming of Age Announcement (+600%!).

The Early Bird Offer allows you to subscribe now for 50$/year, then get all the features of our soon-to-be-launched 24$/month accounts… For life. Don’t be left behind – get it now if you haven’t already.

Myows is growing fast. We now have a very enthusiastic business angel involved who is advising us and has unlocked new avenues to explore; and the traffic to myows.com has increased by a whooping 25% last month.

We should have a few announcements to make next week from a secret location on the other side of the globe, and perhaps some demos of new features to share with you, so stay tuned! (Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to be sure not to miss anything)

From a stormy Cape-Town and on behalf of the team, I wish to express a big thank you to all creatives who’ve decided to show us their support and share our excitement about making copyright management accessible.

I’ve received a few questions from you regarding the Coming of Age Newsletter we sent out yesterday. I’ll make my answers public so you can all understand the Early Bird Offer we’ve devised.

Basically, in a couple of months, we’ll be adding great new features and changing our pricing structure for new signups- But we’ll take good care of those of you who’ve already been supporting us.

Here’s the deal:

Currently, the free account gives you 1Gig of space
The pro account gives you 4 Gigs for 5$/month

In future (sometime in September) – our pricing structure will change for NEW users:

Free account will be just as a sampler (far less than the current 1Gig we’re giving you)
Basic account will have limited access to new features for 5$/month
Pro Accounts will have all new features for 24$/month

So…

If you are on a Free account at present, you’ll always have 1Gig of space and for a year you’ll be able to use some of the new features of the FUTURE 5$ accounts at no extra cost (it pays to be an early bird )

But…

Upgrade to the current 5$ Pro account before September (cut-off time) and you will automatically be upgraded to the FUTURE 24$/m account, for life, at no extra cost (it pays even more to be a paying early bird) – So you’ll be paying 5$ instead of 24$

Here are some Q&A from our Support desk

1. What will be the restrictions on the future free account?
In a couple of months, our future Free Accounts will only be a sampler of the product with very limited functionality. So tell everyone you know to signup now!

2. If I do not upgrade, do I get the basic $5 month plan free for a year?
Yes. The Future Basic plan will offer some of the new functions, including the ability to use the Contract Generator. If you currently have a Myows account, you’ll be able to make use of the benefits of the FUTURE basic plan for a year.

3. There is going to be (at least) 3 price plans, free, basic, and pro…
and if i upgrade now I get the pro plan at the price of the basic plan?
Yes, if you upgrade now, you’ll get all the benefits of our Future 24$/month plan for 5$/month, for life. It pays to be an Early Bird!

4. If I upgrade,is it possible to swtich back to the free plan, and are my works still protected?
Yes, provided you have less than 1GB of work stored. Anything above that 1GB limit will be erased.

5. If I miss a payment for any reason, how long do you keep the OWs safe before removing them
If you are on a paying account and don’t pay, your OWs above the limit will be locked, but remain on the system for a month.
You’ll get many reminders.
After that month they will be erased permanently.
Now, we are not bad guys and we understand that creatives might go through exceptional circumstances, in which case you can contact us and we’ll make a plan.

6. Will the pro account for life work if you do the yearly payment plan?
Yes – pay yearly now and you get the benefits of the future 24$/month plan (or 240$/year) at the reduced rate of 50$/year, for life.

If you have more questions regarding our offer, don’t hesitate to ask!

Get our future 24$ a month pro package for just 5$ a month if you upgrade now.   In a few short months, Myows will be out of beta testing and entering the real world! We’re proud to see our fledging copyright project grow to maturity.   First up though, we’d like to thank you all for helping us build an awesome and truly effective solution to the copyright problems facing us contemporary creative types. To date we’ve had more than 15 000 OWs saved and nearly 100 successfully solved cases / take downs making Myows a true force to be reckoned with.   Even more exciting though is what’s coming next: we will shortly be unveiling the first of a long list of brilliant new features. Behind curtain number 1 is the License Generator. Pretty soon (within the next two months) you’ll be able to create, send, digitally sign, return, date-stamp and store contracts and licenses directly from your Myows profile. No mess, no fuss. And that’s just the beginning (the rest is Top Secret for now though!).   As our loyal supporters, friends and existing clients, we’d like to make sure that you continue to benefit from the very best copyright service on the planet. We certainly don’t want to see you get left behind as Myows hits it’s first growth spurt.   As a result we’re inviting you to upgrade your free account to a Pro account (which means you’ll have access to a host of great additional features and benefits as they go live) at a vastly reduced rate, for life…   - Get onto the 5$/month Pro Plan now and you will be upgraded to the future 24$/month accounts at no extra charge!   Of course, if you’d like to stick to a free account, you are welcome to do that – just remember that, if you ever do decide to upgrade later, you’ll be paying regular price! We still love you guys though and because the future free (“sampler”) plan is more limited than the free beta package we’re currently offering, we’ll upgrade you to the future $5 basic plan for the next year as our way of saying thanks. Getting a great deal while showing us your support is easy! First, you will need to log in to your Myows account Then, under the "Account" tab click on "packages" Finally, upgrade to a Pro account for 5$/month easily with Paypal Tell your friends about us On the Myows homepage you’ll find the tools to grow the copyright culture through Facebook and Twitter, and if you run a blog, a mention of our beloved app will be very appreciated. (For instance see Ryan Sadwick’s Review of Myows)   You might also want to mention to your friends that by signing up now they will be able to use Myows for Free, which is going to change in the close future. Leave a Testimonial If you love Myows and are grateful for what we’re doing, you can now leave a testimonial on this page: http://myows.com/testimonials.php -    Once we have a few, we’ll feature the best testimonials on our Homepage. Display a Myows banner on your website We offer a selection of different size banners for you to include on your website and show the world that you take your work seriously. Browse through the Myows banner selection or create your own with our Design Kit   Ask Questions and Report bugs on our Forum At Myows we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Myows forums are the perfect place to share your copyright-related knowledge and experiences, seek out and give advice and share your various IP experiences.   We would love you to participate and ask questions related to copyright, post links of interest and report any bugs you may encounter.       A big thank you Chris, Dave, Jon, Max and Steve, as well as everyone involved in creating Myows, would like to again warmly thank you for your support.    Until next time, be creative!   The Myows Team In this issue Get our future 24$ a month pro package for just 5$ a month if you upgrade now Getting a great deal while showing us your support is easy! Tell your friends about us Leave a Testimonial Display a Myows banner on your website Ask Questions and Report bugs on our Forum A big thank you In other news Featured on memeburn We recently received great coverage from memeburn – click here to check it out Copyright Protection for Freelancers Interested in finding out more about copyright protection for freelancers? Last month, two excellent articles made their way onto the blogosphere Use our API If you enjoy dabbling in code, or know people who do, you can make use of the Myows API to create more awesomeness (HINT: or smartphone apps). Our developers Dave and Jon will gladly help.

NB: There’s a follow-up post to this Newsletter with some Q and As here:
http://myows.com/blog/our-early-bird-offer-clarified/

Pink Drink Umbrella picture by D Sharon Pruitt

This last week Chris and I attended the netprophet startup accelerator workshop and were very fortunate to receive direct business coaching and mentoring from Techcrunch celebrity and UK-based angel investor Permjot Valia.

Permjot fell in love not only with Cape Town, but also with our online copyright protection app and we are proud to relay his enthusiasm and Twitter announcement:

With Permjot’s experience and contacts, we will grow Myows to new heights and be able to offer many more ways for us freelancers to manage our Intellectual Property online.

I trust you are as excited as we are about this addition to our team.

The Myows team is proud to announce a new feature many of us freelancers have requested: Multi File Uploads.

This makes uploading and managing your copyright simpler, easier, and faster!

Log in to your account or sign up using your Facebook credentials to try it out and leave us your feedback.

Happy Uploads!

Getting a copyright is simple, it’s automatic, no paperwork required. Now we’re working to make protecting your copyright just as easy

That’s why we’ve teamed up with Facebook Connect to allow you to sync your Myows account to your Facebook profile.

First up there’s the obvious time saving advantage (no more lost passwords or sifting through all those usernames you’ve been collecting over the years). But there’s an added legal advantage too!

Part of Myows’ job is to link you with the Original Work that you created at the time at which you uploaded it. In fact, that’s the heart of what Myows does. We create and verify evidence that allows you to link yourself to the cool things you make and helps you protect them.

But who are you?

In terms of your Myows account, up until now, you’ve been a name, email address and password. If you’re extra thorough, you may also have recorded your address, date of birth and other particulars under the account tab. But now, by linking your Myows account to your FB account, you can establish your identity beyond reasonable doubt.

That will help prove that YOU were the one that opened your Myows account and YOU are the person that uploaded the OWs which Myows helps you protect. After all, it doesn’t get much more personal than your FB profile. (Of course, if you don’t feel confortable linking the two, you don’t have to. Your Myows account will still work exactly the same).

Syncing is easy – you’ll notice on the Myows signup/login screen a Facebook button at the top of the screen – click on this to link your existing Myows account to your FB profile. Once you’ve done this you’ll be able to access your Myows account using your Facebook login. No mess, no fuss… and if you’re a first time user, you’ll be able to create a new account off the back of your existing FB profile too.

The result: it’s now easier than ever to set up a new Myows account for first time users (feel free to spread the word).

A little over a year after launch, we are proud to present you with a fresher, faster, friendlier homepage on Myows Copyright Management Solutions.

We like to believe it does a better job at explaining what YOU can do with Myows to manage your copyright. It also displays the growing list of press reviews and user testimonials in a more scalable way.

With your help, we will keep on improving it, and then apply those design changes across the app to provide one of the best User Interfaces on the web – because we believe that managing your copyright is important and that it should be easy.

We added a Facebook and a Tweeet button so if you like the work we’ve put into the app, please show it by clicking those links in the topbar.

We’ve been wanting to expand on our very popular Copyright Basics for Graphic Designers series and would like to know what your questions about copyright are – what is, after reading the series, still unclear to you – and how we can improve our app further to meet your needs.

Grab this unique opportunity to ask your copyright basic question and get an answer from an experienced IP lawyer

If you’re unsure about the extend of your IP rights, chances are other people are wondering the same thing so please feel free to shoot your questions either in the comments section below or on our forum.

The best questions (and their answers) will be published in a Part 4 of our Copyright Basics series.

PS: Before asking your question, remember to read through the excellent:

Copyright Basics for Graphic Designers Part 3