In copyright industries, the war is over creative content - the organization with the most creative people and content has the biggest chances of introducing a hit. The creativity of the development team (whether working on a software program or a motion picture) is the key determinant of suc­cess. It's a war over talent and over taking a good idea and expressing it in the most creative way. The key to using copyrights as competitive weapons lies in the fact that copyrights protect expressions and not ideas. Using the blueprint of IP strategies, copyright strategies for competi­tive positioning include "design around," "build a fortress," and "creativity mapping" strategies. "Design around" copyright strategies involve creating works similar to those of the competi­tion, based on the same idea but expressed differently to prevent the competition from securing a stronghold in the market. It is based on using the unprotectable elements of the competition's popular work. This strategy is based on appreciating that copyrights protect only expressions and not the underlying ideas. To use this strategy, therefore, the ideas (plots, functions, themes, etc.) should be distilled from the competition's work and then used to create new works around the competition's successful work. This strategy is used by the most successful organizations in both the entertainment and software industries. In the software industry, for example, Borland Inter­national Inc. copied the Lotus program commands menu and provided it as part of its software program. Ruling that the commands menu is a functional feature, the court denied it copyright protection.35 The strategy is of equal force in the entertainment industry as well, where it is repeatedly used. Once a work hits the jackpot, many works are produced based on a similar the­matic plot to the successful work (e.g., the range of vampire movies) (see also about asset management).

"Build a fortress" copyright strategies are based on leveraging existing creative content of a copyrighted work by surrounding it with multiple reproductions in varied media, strong brands, and adding more creative content to it by producing a number of versions and hence making it as immune as possible to competition's imitation. That is achieved by rendering the competition's imitation works useless through augmenting the core idea(s) with very highly expressive content, and forging a web of networks around the work - hence creating a fortress. As a result, competi­tion will be disabled from reproducing a similar work as the risk of infringing becomes higher, and the cost of replicating the supporting networks prohibitive. Microsoft uses this strategy vehe­mently. A number of networks with PC manufacturers, a number of versions, adaptations for per­sonal devices, Internet updates, and strong customer service support the sale of its Windows programs. Again, litigation is used as an aggressive tool to deter competition from coming close to the fortress.

"Creativity mapping" strategies depend on the way that the organization develops its creative content, that is, whether it is developed in-house or licensed in from outside sources. In the for­mer case, the use of this strategy entails mapping the talent base to assess the level of creativity, compared to successful works in the market, and adopting the creative practices necessary to acti­vate the talent base. Disney and Microsoft use this strategy for the development of new copy­righted works where the focus is on the creativity of their in-house talent. In the latter case, organizations need to map talent agencies, and keep close watch of the market to spot any rising talent. In both instances, the use of this strategy entails the mapping of talent, popularity trends, creative content quality, and the reasons for success of popular works. Distilling reasons for suc­cess and tying that to consumers' tastes would enable the organization to create a work that can set a new standard in the respective industry. An example of this is Disney's Lion King, which created a new standard for animated films in adult entertainment, to the extent of being called the "Lion King mini-industry," which alone generated around $1 billion in merchandise.