October 15, 2026

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Hello Reader,

Imagine a business hires a designer for a new logo. The invoice is paid, the files arrive, and the business begins using the design. A year later, it wants another agency to adapt the artwork for packaging.

What rights did the original agreement provide?

Payment, file delivery, and copyright ownership are separate questions.

Copyright in qualifying creative work generally starts with its author. A business may have permission to use a design without owning the copyright. A voluntary transfer of copyright ownership generally requires a writing signed by the owner of those rights.

“Work made for hire” has specific legal requirements. Work created by an employee within the scope of employment is treated differently from work commissioned from an independent contractor. For commissioned work, a signed agreement and an eligible statutory category are required; simply putting that phrase on an invoice does not make every project qualify.

My practical recommendation is to discuss the rights the business needs before work begins:

• Ownership or permission: Is the business receiving copyright ownership, a license, or something else?
• Future uses: Can it modify the design, put it on new products, and have another agency work on it?
• Deliverables: Will it receive editable source files as well as finished images?
• Outside materials: Do stock images, fonts, or other licensed elements come with separate limits?

The same planning can be useful for websites, photographs, packaging artwork, and store designs.

Trademark rights identify the business source of goods or services. Copyright addresses qualifying creative expression. Registering a logo as a trademark does not, by itself, transfer copyright in its artwork.

Put the agreed rights and deliverables in the written contract along with the creative brief.

Read the Copyright Office’s guide to work made for hire

Best,

J.J. Lee and the Trademark Lawyer Law Firm Team

Trademarks Registered This Week

Here are the trademarks our firm helped register this week: