The Copyright Trap That Just Cost a Founder Their Entire Brand.

Most founders assume that when they hire a designer, copywriter, photographer, videographer, or web developer and pay for the work, they automatically own it. Under the US Copyright Act, that assumption is legally wrong, and it is quietly setting up thousands of businesses for a catastrophic ownership fight.

In this video, business and intellectual property attorney Jessica Eaves Mathews of Leverage Legal Group explains why independent contractors legally retain the copyright in everything they create for you, from your logo and website copy to your brand photography, video content, ghostwritten books, and even original music, unless a written work for hire agreement or copyright assignment is in place.

Learn why paying for the work does not transfer ownership, why the contractor can continue selling or licensing your logo to other clients, why you cannot register a trademark on your own logo when the copyright still belongs to the designer, and why the worst case scenario is a forced rebrand that costs not just new design fees but the enormous expense of reeducating your customer base about a completely new brand identity.

Jessica walks through the exact three step protection protocol every founder should install right now, adding work for hire and IP transfer clauses to every contractor agreement, registering key assets with the US Copyright Office once ownership is secured, and auditing legacy contractor relationships to paper the ownership gaps with post creation assignment agreements that are actually enforceable.

Watch to the end for a direct offer to have your contractor agreements, brand assets, and copyright ownership status reviewed before the person who designed your logo tries to take control of it.