Intellectual property: who owns the design, the code, the content
Who owns a website's design, code, photographs and text by default, what a contract should say instead, and what you need to check before you rely on it.
The short answer
Who counts as the author, and with whom the copyright first sits, is a question of national law rather than of European harmonisation, and in practice the answer across European systems is the person who created the work. Work created by an employee in the course of their employment generally vests in the employer, but work created by a freelancer or an agency does not, regardless of who paid. So unless your contract says otherwise in writing, the agency that designed your website owns the design, the developer owns the code they wrote, the copywriter owns the text and the photographer owns the images, and you hold at most an implied licence to use them for the purpose they were made for. That licence may not cover a rebrand, a move to another supplier, a franchise, or the sale of your business. A proper contract deals with this before the work starts: it transfers or broadly licenses what you need, identifies third-party and open source components with their licences, and treats content, images and fonts explicitly. The time this is examined is a partner change, an investment or a sale, which is exactly when it is expensive to discover.
Who owns what by default
| Asset | Default owner | What a contract should say |
|---|---|---|
| Website design | The designer or agency | Transfer, or a broad perpetual licence to use, modify and have modified by others |
| Custom code | The developer or agency | Transfer or broad licence, with the repository delivered |
| Open source components | The respective projects | Identified with licences; obligations noted |
| Third-party licensed components | The vendor | Licence in the client’s name where possible |
| Copy and text | The writer | Transfer or licence covering all business use |
| Photographs | The photographer | Licence scope: media, duration, territory, modification, sublicensing |
| Stock images | The stock provider | Licence terms retained per asset |
| Fonts | The foundry | Web licence covering your traffic and any redistribution |
| Logo and brand marks | The designer, until transferred | Full transfer, always, plus registration considerations |
| Client-supplied material | The client | Warranty that the client had the rights |
What to do
- Check your existing contracts for an intellectual property clause; many small business agreements have none.
- Ask your current partner in writing what you own and what you are licensed to do, before you need to know.
- For new work, agree it up front: transfer or a broad perpetual licence covering use, modification and future suppliers.
- Require a component inventory: open source and third-party licences, with obligations noted.
- Get the logo transferred outright, and consider trade mark registration separately.
- Keep licence records per asset for images, fonts and stock material, with scope and expiry.
- Put third-party licences in your own name where the vendor allows it.
- Review before any sale, investment or franchise, because that is when it is audited.
Our own position
We transfer or broadly license everything we create for a client, deliver the repository, document every third-party component with its licence, and put third-party licences in the client’s name where vendors allow it. We do it because a client who cannot take their site elsewhere is a client held in place by paperwork rather than by the work, and we would rather be chosen. It also makes the hand-over conversation short, which matters more to both sides than anyone expects until it happens.
What this means for you
Without a written agreement, your agency, developer, writer and photographer own what they made, and you hold an uncertain implied licence. Agree transfer or a broad perpetual licence before work starts, require an inventory of third-party and open source components, keep licence records for images and fonts, transfer the logo outright, and check the position before any partner change or business sale. This is general information rather than legal advice; significant transactions deserve a qualified opinion.
Frequently asked questions
We paid for our website. Do we not own it?
Paying for work does not automatically transfer copyright. Across European copyright systems the creator generally holds the rights unless there is a written transfer or the work was made by an employee in the course of employment. Many small businesses discover during a partner change that their agency owns the design and code and has granted only an implied licence to use it. The fix is contractual and should be agreed before the work, though it can usually be arranged afterwards with cooperation.
What about the open source components in our site?
They are not transferred to you and do not need to be; they come with their own licences that permit use under conditions. A good handover documents which components are used and under which licences, so you know your obligations, such as attribution, and any restrictions. Most common web libraries use permissive licences that pose no difficulty for a business website.
Does the same apply to content and photographs?
Yes, and separately. A copywriter owns their text and a photographer owns their images unless rights are transferred or licensed. Stock images are licensed, not owned, usually with conditions on use and sometimes on resale or redistribution. Keep a record per asset of what you are permitted to do, because a rebrand, a franchise or a sale of the business tests those permissions.
Sources
- EUIPO: Intellectual property for businesses (accessed 2026-09-12)
- EUR-Lex: Directive 2001/29/EC, the rights harmonised across the EU (not who holds them) (accessed 2026-09-12)