Creation Logo
Can someone trademark a logo I hold copyright to?
I have recently created a logo for a company. I did not sell them rights to the design, charge them for licensing (yet), or negotiate any royalties. I understand that upon creation, the design automatically is owned by me, the creator, but in a not work-for-hire situation, is that legal?
First of all, trademarks and copyrights are two different things. A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. You also don’t make clear if you were an employee of or under contract to this company and this was part of your job description. But what it looks like to me, and you can check the source below, if you don’t have any plans to use the logo in some type of commerce, you cannot trademark it. That being said, if you were not an employee or under contract to this company, they do not have the right to use it. But you would have to prove that you came up with the idea first.
Illustrator Logo Creation – Time Lapse
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