Who owns the logo my designer made?

Why payment does not equal ownership

Commissioning work and owning it are two different legal events. In both the US and the EU, copyright vests in the person who fixes the work in a tangible form, which is the designer holding the pen or the tablet. Paying an invoice settles the service fee. It does not, by itself, move the copyright to you.

This surprises a lot of founders. You assume that because you asked for the logo and paid for it, it is yours outright. Courts have not read it that way for decades. The fix sits in the paperwork, not in the invoice.

The clause that actually transfers rights

You need an assignment clause, sometimes called a work product or IP transfer clause, stating that the designer assigns all copyright and related rights in the deliverables to you upon full payment. This should be in writing and signed. A verbal agreement or an email thread saying "it's yours" is weaker evidence and harder to enforce if the relationship sours.

Freelance platforms and agency templates vary wildly here. Some default to licensing the work rather than assigning it, which lets the designer resell similar marks to your competitor. Read the terms before you sign, not after you launch.

United States versus European Union

In the US, without an assignment, you often hold an implied non-exclusive licence, which the designer can argue is limited in scope, for example to a specific use or medium. In the EU and UK, moral rights also stay with the designer even after an assignment, meaning they can object to distortion of the work in some circumstances, though this is rarely enforced against a simple logo redesign.

What happens if the designer disappears

If you never got an assignment and the designer is unreachable, you are exposed. A competitor or the designer's estate could theoretically challenge your use. This is precisely the gap that a Deed closes: it gives you a dated, signed, verifiable record of what you were told you owned, which strengthens your position even where the original contract was thin.