A month or two back I was in an online discussion with someone who had had an article of theirs printed and quoted from without their permission, and without the proper copyright notice. The author was up in arms and was wondering what to do about it.

No matter how much inventory you have, or how large your customer base, the viability of your business depends on the flow of your thinking, your creativity, your presence. What do you do when someone steals your hard work?

Send a thank-you note.

Remember the Grateful Dead? I was never a big fan, more into punk myself, but I was always intrigued by friends who had dozens and dozens of "bootlegs" of Dead shows- recordings they personally made, or bought from someone else.

What many people don't know about the Grateful Dead is that early on they made a decision to treat the band as a business, and made many decisions to leverage their success, without compromising their values.

They noticed that their fans were recording their shows. Unlike many other bands and industries that tried to stop this nefarious activity (remember Napster?), the Dead encouraged it. Why?

Have you ever tried to act like someone else? How long could you keep it up? The last time I unconciously started writing like someone I admired, I started getting unsubscribes and complaints like crazy, and I had to come back to my own authenticity in a hurry.

The Dead, by smiling at bootleggers who were making "unofficial" copies of the shows, were actually encouraging the growth of community. More people attended their shows just to record bootlegs. It created a "collection" mindset. It was a big deal to say that you had a particular bootleg, and even more of coup to say that you had been at that show.

And, their official records, more than 50 live and studio releases, were a part of the 'collection mania' and had strong, profitable sales over 30+ years.

Instead of spending your time and energy trying to police your "intellectual property rights," put your attention on your heart and your authenticity, and encourage others to make the best use of your materials and ideas. Trust that your customers can tell your authentic presence from someone else who is just riding in your draft.

Are there times when it's worth it to protect your stuff?

Keys to Hippie Protectionism