Do you really OWN your site design? Perhaps NOT.
 

All freelancers that do not work for your company according to the law own the copyright even if you have paid for the work to be done, they need to sign the copyright over to you. So just wondering how many design firms actually do this and whether as a business you do this?

Correct me if this assumption is wrong BTW but reading up on it now, seems to be the case.

You are correct.

All design agreements should explicitly state who owns the copyrights.

Freelance designers will often charge more for granting copyrights to a client because it entitles the client purchasing the art to re-purpose the design without paying the designer additional $$$ or royalties.

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thanks for this info!

FYI, Our contract includes the trasnfer of copyright upon final payment

Almost every contract we sign transfers the copyright. I have advised many mainstream clients that end up w/o a design after a fall out w/ a freelancer.

Definitely should read your contract and know exactly what you want and make sure you're getting it. -g

good post, and gage already covered what I would have said.

yup gotta make sure you are very sure that everything that you want is in the contract before you sign it.

in that case I indeed own none of my designs :)

thats a prob.

Works this way with all creatives and content.

yup - thats how it works in the real world. designer owns the copyright - you can't do anything to your logo/design without going back to the designer and paying him again. you are unlikely in the real world to be given the source files.

I've never transferred copyrights for anything I've ever designed. I own so much shit. :winkwink:

Turboface has designed all of the site's we have so yes, we own them.


:)

Exactly, every designer out there does... In theory you could sue the person using the designs you created, or ask them to take them down.

That's a good point

this biz has from the beginning been a very informal one - partnerships are made by verbal agreement or over instant messenger, nothing written down, exclusive content is sold with no paper work other than the model ID's and releases.

copyright always by default remains with the creator unless there's a legal document which states otherwise.

good thread!!! thanks for the info.

That may be the case, but if for any reason you ended up in court, well you don't have a leg to stand on!

When I do mainstsream sites I used to do that and sign it over to them. Now I don't really sweat it unless they ask. However, I think it can work against you if you design something for someone and they use but get sued for something on it. I think the designer can be held responsible? But I'm not sure on that.

Actually, depends on where you are. Copyright law also incorporates people who "contract" for works of art to be created, and in some cases, the one who commissions the work owns it, because they are paying for the servicse.

Indeed it can depend on where you are but 45 countries recently signed the CyberCrime Treaty which now covers intellectual property rights also... (including USA).

like i said in most cases in this biz there are NO contracts - it would just come down to he said/he said in court - and the one who owns the copyright unless there is a contract is the person who created the property.