Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Ownership of Native Files (Graphic Design)

Hi - I own a small graphic design

company and have been doing

business with a semi-large

corporation for the past 15 years. We

have produced hundreds of things for

them over the years such as ads,

flyers, posters, logos, and every kind

of collateral and print marketing you

can think of.

Well, effective almost immediately,

this company has decided to go in a

different direction and take the

design business away from us. On

the way out, though, they are

demanding that we hand over to

them all native files of the work we

have done in the past 15 years. We

had never drawn up a formal

contract stating who owns the rights

to the native files, but standard

practice (especially 15 years ago)

was such that it was understood that

we, the designers, own the rights.

So my question is, since no formal

agreement was made over who owns

that material we produce, who has

the rightful claim to it? They are

pressuring us to give it to them and

they feel that they paid for the files.

We disagree and feel that we have

fulfilled our obligations to create

unique and custom artwork for

them.

Thank you.

1 Answer from Attorneys

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