Corporate Work: Rights and Usage
Author of this post: Jean Perwin | About Blog Authors »
You asked your legal, copyright, and trademark questions, and Jean has answered! All questions are culled from the comments section attached to the original ‘Ask Jean’ post. We invite you to ask more questions.
Dear Jean,
I am a web designer. Recently, the brand/company I worked for was purchased by another company, and I was “sold” along with the brand. The new company treated me very poorly, and my new boss was verbally abusive. I was forced to quit for my own health and well-being. They were very upset when I quit and have threatened legal action. They recently sent me a letter saying they were going to sue me for using their logo in my portfolio on my personal website. To clarify, everything on my site was created long before the brand was sold. I have taken the images down to be safe.
So my question is this: is it legal to display examples of your own work on your personal website portfolio if you produced it for a company?
Thank you so much,
MitchDear Mitch,
If you are an employee of a company, all the work you create while employed belong to the company. If the company is sold, the purchaser acquires all rights, including the rights to the work you created while working for the prior organization. So, without permission from the old company while it existed or the new company now, you may not use your own work in a personal portfolio. You do not own the rights to it. The opposite is true if you work as a freelancer. Unless you transfer the rights to your employer/client, you retain them and can use your works in a portfolio. The best way to avoid these problems is to get permission in writing from prospective and previous employers, specifying that you have the right to use your own work in a personal portfolio.
Best,
Jean
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hi,
I have a small company and I hired a freelance graphic designer to create logo, artwork and other items for my company. I paid her fully for the work she has done. There was no written contract. I have now hired a full time graphic designer and I have asked the freelance graphic designer to give me the original artwork so that I can have the in house graphic designer use it. She refused to turn over the original files (7 years worth of work for which she was paid very well). A few days later she called me and said she would turn over the files for a fee (substantial I might add). I told her that the logo’s belonged to my company and she was already paid for her work. Do I have any legal rights to obtain these from her?
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 am
@ Kris, you’re question is answered I saw.
To Jean, I had the same situation here as written above. Luckily for me, it seemed I prepared well for my job several years ago and the union checked my contract and made some changes as I did a lot of freelance.
All my work was my property/copyright, also after the (unfriendly) take over. Perhaps a lesson from Europe for newcomers in the business :)