Who does the logo belong to? Company or artist?

[barryegan]

What is the name of your state? Texas.

Let's say there's a company called Angry Apple. They make T-shirts. There are three owners who each have equal stakes in the business. In January, Owner #3 designs a logo for Angry Apple to use on the company's T-shirts. A month later, Owner #3 is legally removed from the business for doing some very bad things. But even after Owner #3 is removed, Angry Apple continues to use the logo he designed on T-shirts -- and they sell very well.

In June, Angry Apple receives notice that (Former) Owner #3 is suing them for the continued use of the logo he designed. He finally registered the logo with the U.S. Copyright Office in May.

My question: Who owns the logo? Angry Apple or (Former) Owner #3?

 

[VeronicaLodge]

who registered the trademark?

 

[barryegan]

who registered the trademark?

Nobody registered a trademark. Former Owner #3 registered the logo with the U.S. Copyright Office months after its creation, and after he had been kicked out of the business.

Since he created the logo explicitly for the business when he was an owner, does this qualify as a work-for-hire? I'm really confused as to who has the rights to the logo here.

 

[justalayman]

well, if former member #3 has a copyright on the artwork, it is his and your continued use without permission would be copyright infringement.

If you want to argue the validity of the copyright, take it up with the USPTO. If you believe you have rights to continued use of the logo, then sue the guy but if he has been given copyrights, that is going to be tough to overcome.

Until you have prevailed in court, it would be wise to stop using it as now it would be considered willful infringement and the damages are greater than if it wasn;t willful.

and since he was an owner of the business, how could you come to the conclusion it was work for hire?

 

[divgradcurl]

Just a couple of points -- even though #3 may own the copyright to the logo, the company may have a license to continue using the logo as their trademark. Whether or not such a license exists, or can be imputed to exist, would depend on a full review of the facts of the situation.

Best bet, though, if you want to continue using the logo, is to buy the rights from the copyright holder.

If you want to argue the validity of the copyright, take it up with the USPTO.

USPTO deals with patents and trademarks -- hence the name! The U.S. copyright office (part of the Library of Congress) controls registration of copyrights.

As far as who owns the logo -- well, it would appear that the company owns the trademark rights in the logo. Whether or not #3 owns the copyright rights to the logo, or whether they were transferred to the company, will depend again on a detailed review of the actual facts and circumstances of the situation, and and an evalutation of Texas corporate law as it applies to the particular business organization we are talking about.

But it wouldn't be a work-for-hire, as justalayman noted.