The organizers of Dick and Barbara’s cooperative had great success and many inquiries from other neighborhoods on how to organize and operate. After the organizers had helped several other groups form, the time commitment grew to the point that they decided to establish a consulting practice, Cooperative Constructs, and charge fees for providing advice and materials to startup cooperatives. Based on its extensive experiences, Cooperative Constructs had accumulated many stories and experiences and some legal documents. After the practice contracted a videographer to tape one of its organization sessions, a startup package with video and boilerplate agreement documents was ready for distribution.
A. Discuss different organizational structures for Cooperative Constructs and the (dis)advantages of each structure.
B. Identify Cooperative Constructs’ intellectual property.
C. What intellectual property protection is appropriate for Cooperative Constructs’ materials, organization name, and approach?