How to Protect Your Logo Copyright?

Published: June 10, 2023

When starting a business, you must make numerous choices to market a product or service. You must choose a name for your company, open a store, and create and market products. Assuring adequate protection for your intellectual property, which includes your logo, is minor step with a major impact that is frequently missed.

The logo is the first representation of your brand to the target audience and helps set the brand loyalty, authenticity and reliability of the business. A well-designed logo helps Melbourne-based businesses with global recognition, which also helps with increased traffic and profits, Of Course!

But, after designing the perfect logo for your business, the next and most important step is to protect your brand’s authenticity, which is done through Logo Copyright.

Copyright protection protects your logo. When an idea or creative thought is recorded on paper or electronically, copyright protection is applied automatically in Australia.

When opting for our logo design services in Melbourne at BrandVillage, we give an option to our clients to of logo copyright to help them protect their identity and complete all the processes on our behalf for less hassle on your end!

But, some of the clients are not aware of logo copyright. And this is what motivated us to curate this blog! In this blog below, we will introduce you to the details of logo copyright in Melbourne, its basics and importance for a clear understanding!

Let’s get hooked till the end of this blog to get expert insights into Logo Copyright!

Overview of Logo Copyright – Basics & Importance

When a new work of art is created, creators are automatically given the copyright. These works include but are not limited to music, literature, software, choreography, or works of art.

Your logo can qualify as artwork and come with automatic copyright protection depending on whether it qualifies artwork category under the Copyright Law. You can continue to exercise control over how your creation is used if you hold the copyright to your logo. It indicates that you can sell your logo to third parties or grant them a licence to use it.

Copyright, however, only defends the original work. It does not safeguard the creation’s underlying conceptual framework. Consider writing a screenplay for a movie about a cosmic space romance. Copyright laws will automatically protect the script itself. The script’s main plot, however, will not be copyright protected. To further protect the movie’s name, you need to trademark it.

Copyright is also distinct from property ownership. Although you might physically own a CD or book, unless you also buy the copyright, you won’t own the copyright.

Process For Logo Copyright in Melbourne

 

In Australia, there is no requirement to register for copyright. You might get the copyright if your logo is an original work of art. The Copyright Act of 1968 provides free and automatic copyright protection.

But it is always better to get the trademark for the logo. You have the sole right to use, licence, and sell a mark if you have the trademark. No one else in Australia can use your trademark commercially for the identical products or services you have registered it for.

In Australia, trademark applications must be submitted online through IP Australia. There are several pieces of information you must provide, such as:

• Name of you and/or your business and contact information,
• The trademark’s representation (word, logo, tagline, etc.),
• Description of the products or services covered by it
• ‘Class’ or ‘Category’ of the goods or services you are applying for
• Any portion of your logo written in another language must be translated or transliterated
• You run the danger of not receiving the protection you want if your application is inaccurate (for instance, it should accurately portray the trademark and the goods/services to which it relates).

For the first ten years, a trade mark protects all Australian states and territories. After then, a charge is required to renew it every ten years. You have up to six months after the renewal date or twelve months before it to renew your trademark registration.

How Long Does Copyright Protection Last?

Copyright protection can vary depending on the nature of the material protected by copyright and whether it has been made public. Copyright typically lasts for:

• 70 years for works following the author’s passing
• For sound recordings and films, this period begins 70 years after release.
• It lasts for 50 years after the broadcast for Radio and television shows.

When copyrights lapse, the content enters the public domain and is free to use.

Ownership of Copyright In A Logo

In the following circumstances, the person or business can utilise the logo as the owner of the logo’s copyright:

If The Logo Was Made While You Were Working There

Unless an agreement to the contrary was signed, the employer typically owns the copyright in work generated by an employee while performing work-related duties. Freelancers, independent contractors, and volunteers are exempt from this.

If A Commissioning Arrangement Gives Them Ownership

In general, if someone who is not an employee gets paid to develop a logo (for instance, a freelancer or contractor), that person will possess the copyright to the logo unless they have delegated ownership to someone else (for example, to the client as part of a contract).

A written document that the owner of the copyright signs is required for it to be legally binding. An agreement may be made before creating a work, in which case it has to be signed by the party who would have otherwise owned the copyright.

In general, if a person who is not an employer of yours has hired you to design a logo for them and you have not granted them a copyright, they are free to use the logo for the reasons you both agreed upon when you agreed. They might require authorisation if they intend to use the logo for another reason. The issue is not always black and white, so creating an express agreement is better than relying on the general law’s provisions.

Note – We advise the parties to write a formal agreement outlining who will hold the copyright and what licenses each party will have to use the commissioned work in every instance where a logo is commissioned.

If The Government Designed The Logo Or It Was The First To Use It

A government would be the owner of the copyright of a work if it was produced under the supervision or control of, or originally published by, the Commonwealth, a State, or a Territory government. Local governments are exempt from this rule.

The author may hold the copyright if none of the set circumstances applies. However, in most instances, the user will have substantial control over how the logo is used, and the creator’s rights will be restricted accordingly.

There may be multiple creators and copyright owners in some circumstances. The copyright owner could be a business, like a graphic design firm. A person who provides ideas for a logo but does not design and draw it is typically not considered a creator for copyright purposes and, as a result, does not possess copyright. Similarly, for copyright purposes, a person who only sketches out an image that has already been turned into a completed logo by someone else is not considered the creator.

Conclusion

If your designed logo has natural aesthetic qualities, you already have copyright protection.

BrandVillage is the leading design agency in Melbourne. BrandVillage has distinguished itself from other agencies by fusing science and art and expanded swiftly. We create aesthetic and unique logos that compliments your business. Moreover, our logo design experts in Melbourne only help with the copyright logo.

Still, worried about how logo copyright works and whether you must have it for your business in Melbourne or not?

Worry no more, and connect with the logo design experts in Melbourne at BrandVillage for the details. We are waiting to hear from you!