Who actually has rights to this......??

[Gino]

Some background first.

Almost 2 years ago an old customer of ours and his cousin went into a partnership. Back in March of this year, the partnership suddenly broke up. The two cousins who joined forces about a year earlier figured out they couldn't get along. The original partner had been a long time customer of ours for about 30 years. Anyway, we had all the artwork from the original signs and the partnership signs. The old customer remained our customer and the new cousin drifted off.

A few weeks after this breaK up, another friend of mine, who does all kinds of novelty and whatnot stuff, came to me with a request to do some banners. Turns out, it's the lazy cousin, but he has no artwork or files to speak of to generate anything. Just a little .jpeg. I told them I couldn't do anything with the files. Well, the novelty guy was desperate and asked me if there was anything I could do and I said, I could create a file for them for a fee. It would be theirs to do what they want. Nope, they didn't wanna spend the money. Okay, I can jerry rig something to make the banners passable. Alright. It will cost $75 to do this. Okay. Move ahead.....

The other day, they want the file I jerry rigged together, to give to a guy who prints door mats..... can they have their file ?? I told them, I made it in a proprietary program and don't have anything the door mat guy can use. Now they are demanding I give them the files, so I did. No one can read them. Make them something we can all read !! Here's the original .jpeg. Hey, that's too small !! We need something we can use. We paid you 6 months ago to do this. No, you didn't. You paid me to come up with a way to make some banners...... not artwork. You turned that offer down.


So, in the many ways all of you members think.... who owns the rights or use of this file ?? Must I convert this yet again to some format they can read..... for nothing and consider the $75 still my payment ??

Or do I own the rights until they pay my fee ??

for any input you may have or want to share. Gino​

 

[bulldozer]

you own it. they will go somewhere else. they don't have rights to something they didn't pay for.

 

[J Hill Designs]

you own it. they will go somewhere else. they don't have rights to something they didn't pay for.

this

 

[TheVinylGuy]

Unless you gave them a written license to use that artwork in any fashion, they legally have no right to it.

 

[oksigns]

yeah you sold them the end product- the sign, not the design.

Just like in home building, you can buy a house based on some plans that were drawn, but the home builder doesn't have to give them to you- well without an extra fee of course.

 

[Billct2]

Nope, it's yours and they don't sound like they're worth spending any time on.
I'd tell them to let the doormat people do the same work you did and see how that goes....

 

[2B]

Unless you gave them a written license to use that artwork in any fashion, they legally have no right to it.

Nope, it's yours and they don't sound like they're worth spending any time on.
I'd tell them to let the doormat people do the same work you did and see how that goes....

+1

 

[jtiii]

May be a dumb question, but I'm confused on one part of this. Is the art that Goofus wanted on the banners the same art that Gallant is continuing to use with you? And is that what Goofus wants on the doormats as well? Or did you end up making a different logo to put on the banners?

I guess either way the answer is that they need to pony up if they want the file/rights; I'm just trying to understand how the "previous partnership" part of the story relates to the "guy who wants free art" part.

 

[Gino]

May be a dumb question, but I'm confused on one part of this. Is the art that Goofus wanted on the banners the same art that Gallant is continuing to use with you? And is that what Goofus wants on the doormats as well? Or did you end up making a different logo to put on the banners?

I guess either way the answer is that they need to pony up if they want the file/rights; I'm just trying to understand how the "previous partnership" part of the story relates to the "guy who wants free art" part.

I'll try to answer this, the best can. The previous partnership is how I got tangled into this mess. They have been customers for a very long time. They don't have a dog in this fight, but that is how I got some of the elements to recreate the logo for the Goofus [perfect word]. They [my old customer] will not let it out if the mat guy or my novelty guy ask for it. Therefore, I had some inside way of making possible artwork. However, I still had to add a few small details. I duplicated the small .jpeg, that Goofus supplied. So, in essence, I didn't create the logo. I just made a file I could make for some small banners.

I consider them work files. They were given a chance to get professional files with many formats and uses, but they said no, right away.

 

[MikePro]

goofus has his banners, as paid for. Done deal. ...you weren't paid to become his graphics department. Great clients I'll bend-over backwards for, because the cost of artwork setup usually has been paid-for many times-over by return business & quick payment.

They may own the rights to reproduce their own logo, but they're YOUR production files.
I'd re-send him his proof that was approved for production for the banners, and tell him that his door mat guy should be able to figure it out... just like you did for his banners.

if door mat guy absolutely won't produce without a vector logo, then goofus will have to pay someone to setup his artwork accordingly.

 

[player]

They want you to be their graphics door mat.

 

[Chasez]

What does your original quote say? to produce banners and supply artwork? or to just supply banners.... there you go, you supplied the banners and that is all he paid for. I would just tell him that the alterations were in an output program and you can't save them as any other format (only the format that you tried to give him) and thats all you have. Then reiterate that you can produce proper artwork for him for a fee and thats the only way you can help.

Chaz

 

[player]

Give them some stupid restaurant analogy. "You turned down the steak and ordered a cheese sandwich. Now you are asking for free steak leftovers."

Something like that...

 

[CMYKprnt]

We run into this scenario all the time - if they paid you to produce the file then they own the Print ready file - unless you specifically state that you retain the rights to the artwork. Please do not mistake the working file for the print ready file. To use the restaurant analogy - they didnt buy the receipe of what seasonings you used to create the meal but they did buy the meal and paid you for your time to create a print ready file. I would give them the print ready file and retain the rights to the native file. If they didn't pay you for the file then I would tell them they are out of luck and you can recreate for a fee.