Most businesses have a logo these days; even the
smallest companies appreciate the importance of carrying an identity to
reinforce their brand.
Logos form a significant part of the marketing armoury
because they allow people to instantly recognise a business. When you see the Lacoste
crocodile for example, or the bitten-into Apple logo, you know straight away
who you are dealing with. These examples work at all levels of the business
scale and demonstrate how valuable a logo can be.
With this in mind, it may come as something of a
surprise that in some cases, companies don’t actually own their own logos. Here
is a story to illustrate what we appreciate has probably come as something of a
shock to you.
An Innocent Tale
Travel back in time in 1998 when smoothie maker
Innocent was a new business. It commissioned a logo to be designed by a
branding company, which produced the now well-known halo/face design. The two
parties liaised over how the designers would be paid for their work, but no
contracts were ever signed and no money changed hands.
Two years later in 2000, Innocent applied to register
its logo as an EU trade mark. At first the registration was accepted, that was
until the company that had designed the logo applied to cancel the
registration, claiming that they were the rightful owners of the logo. Innocent
could not own the logo trade mark, because no copyright had been assigned.
What the Law Says
According to UK copyright law, when a business
commissions a design agency to undertake any type of design work, the designer
is deemed to own the copyright on the designs, unless an agreement to the
contrary has been signed.
Whilst the party doing the commissioning retains an
implied licence and with it a right to use the logo once they have paid for its
design, the intellectual property rights do not automatically become the
property of the commissioner, unless there is a contract stating otherwise.
What to do?
Every time you commission any design work, you need to
request written assignment of copyright from your design agency courtesy of a
contract agreed and signed by both parties.
