Owning a thing and owning its rights

You buy an original painting and hang it in your café. It looks so good that you want to print it on mugs. You own the painting. Does that settle the question?

No. Under the Copyright Act, owning the copyright is separate from owning the object the work is in. Handing over the original, or any copy, does not by itself pass any rights in the work. The artist still owns the copyright unless they signed it over to you. 12

Three different things can change hands

1. The object or copy: the canvas, the printed book, the delivered file.
2. Permission (a license): the copyright owner lets you do something with the work, such as print it in a menu or post it on your website. 2
3. Ownership of rights: the copyright, or any single right in it, such as the right to make copies, can be sold on its own. 1

A deal can include one, two, or all three. Printing and selling mugs means reproducing the image and distributing copies of it. Changing the image for the mug means preparing a derivative work. The copyright owner controls all three. 2

So describe the use instead of saying "I bought it": "Print this painting on 500 mugs, sold in the café and online." The artist can then include it, charge separately for it, or say no, and you both know where you stand before you order the mugs.

A file gives you access, not permission

A layered design file contains everything needed to edit the design. Having it does not give you the right to edit, resell, or share it. That comes only from what the owner granted. The reverse is also true: a license can let you edit a design even if nobody gave you the source files. 1

Take a business that receives a finished logo and assumes it can change any part of it, resell it, and hand the files to anyone. The agreement may grant much less. And a stock photo or clip art inside the logo belongs to whoever created it and comes with its own license terms. 12

Before you use a work in a new way, check three things:

1. What was granted: which uses, which media, how long.
2. Who granted it, and whether they owned those rights.
3. Whether any part, such as a photo, illustration, or music track, comes with separate terms.

Get the agreement in writing and keep a copy. A simple, non-exclusive permission does not legally need a written agreement, but a signed page or email is how you prove what was agreed. 2

Paying for the work does not make you the owner

Paying a freelancer buys the work you asked for, not the copyright. The copyright belongs to the person who created it unless one of two things applies: 13

• Work made for hire. An employee's work made as part of their job belongs to the employer. A freelancer's work counts as made for hire only if it falls into one of nine categories (such as a contribution to a collective work, part of a film, a translation, or an instructional text) and both sides signed a written agreement calling it a work made for hire. A painting or a standalone logo is not on that list, so a "work made for hire" line in the contract does not make you its owner. 3
• A signed transfer. To own the copyright, you need a written assignment signed by the owner or their authorized agent. An exclusive license is a transfer too and needs the same signed writing. 14

If you take an assignment or exclusive license, record it with the U.S. Copyright Office through its online Recordation System; the fee calculator is on the same page. Recording is not required for the transfer to be valid, but it protects you: if the owner later signs the same rights to someone else, a transfer of a registered work that you recorded within one month of signing (two months if signed abroad) wins. 124

Freelancers, read the other side of the same contract: what you are giving away, whether you can reuse your earlier materials, and whether you can show the work in your portfolio. Settle those points in writing before you start.

Start with the use you want

Back to the café. Instead of arguing about "full ownership," tell the artist about the mugs: how many, where they will be sold, whether the image will be cropped or recolored, and how the artist will be credited. That is a question the artist can answer with a yes, a price, or a no.

The same approach works for a photograph in an advertisement, music in a video, or code in a commercial product. Owning a copy lets you keep and enjoy it. Copying, adapting, or distributing the work needs the owner's permission or the rights themselves. Name the use, find out who owns the rights, and get the permission or transfer in writing.