You’ve got major plans, right?
(Of course you do).
You put your heart (and soul) into finalizing a logo with your graphic designer.
All those drafts. Colors. Font types.
And finally, FINALLY the perfect combo grabbed your attention.
It was fun. Engaging. Memorable…
The perfect anecdote to get customers front and center at your truck.
You probably signed a design agreement when starting the process (and if not, shame on the both of you!).
Even if you skipped that important step, you paid some moolah. Received your final files.
And voila…
You were ready to get those Instagram and Twitter pages up, and start teasing your new brand to the world.
Congrats.
Guess what? You don’t own your logo.
(I’ve got your attention now, don’t I?)
I know that you are wondering, “How the heck is that possible? I paid for it.”
Let me explain.
Your graphic designer is the copyright owner of the logo and other work that they designed for you. The second they put pen to paper, or fingers to Adobe Illustrator they became the copyright owner.
When someone owns the copyright in a work they have the exclusive right to:
- Reproduce the work;
- Distribute or sell the work;
- Grant a license for others to distribute or sell the work;
- Modify the original work, or create a derivative (a work based on an original);
- Perform or display the copyrighted work.
The graphic designer has all of these rights to your logo (and other designs) unless they specifically transfer(ed) ownership to you.
In other words, if you want to do basic things like get promotional t-shirts or run an ad for your company you have to get permission from the designer. Not ideal, right?
Good news. Copyright ownership can be transferred.
If you did sign a graphic design agreement, review it to see what it says about copyright ownership. It may not mention transferring rights at all. After all, the agreement was written in the designer’s favor.
At this point (yes, including you folks who never signed an agreement at all), you need to ask the designer to sign off on a written assignment – a transfer of the copyright to you. If they are savvy, they may require an additional fee to assign the copyright to you. It’s understandable, because their initial fee was based on creation of the work only.
Don’t forget, everything is negotiable.
What should you do now?
Go have the conversation with your graphic designer. Then, relish in the success of actually owning your logo and having the free will to use it as you please.