who owns coyright of logo me or hired design company

[varelle]

This is all new to me, so want to know who legally owns the copyright of a logo. The design company that produced it and has been payed
(I was invoiced for miscellaneous trademark design works as well as for design developemnt logotyepe assets for identity).

Any adivice or guidance on how to find out is much appreciated.

thank you.

[CopyrightAid]

Copyright will automatically belong to the creator of the work, unless they:

1: Are creating this work as part of normal employment - in which case copyright will belong to the employer.
Note: The employer really means the employer (i.e. the company that pays the PAYE/NI contributions provides the P60/P45, etc) - freelance work does not count.

2: Have agreed as part of the contract or terms of service to hand over ownership of copyright.

In your situation, I would guess that unless there is some agreement to the contrary, the design company will own the copyright.

If in doubt - you could always ask them

[CopyrightAid]

P.S. I have deleted your post in copyright basics as it looked like a duplicate of this..

[varelle]

Thank you for that valuable information, wich brings me to the next qustion:

If the design company owns the copyright of my logo, how does that protect me using the logo in the long term. Can they stop me using it at some point? Say we build a brand on it and grow it, could they pull the plug?

Thank you.

[CopyrightAid]

If the design company owns copyright, it does not protect you - it protects them.

Some typical scenarios may be:
1. They do the work, you don't pay, they pull the plug.
2. They do the work, you pay, they hand over copyright.
3. They do the work, you pay, they license you to use the logo without restriction.

I am afraid that I cannot second guess how your design company deals with such matters. The details of all of this should be covered in the terms of your contract with the design company - this really is a matter you need to discuss with them.