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Why the legal desk is a person and not an address
Almost every design studio hides this function behind a footer link and a generic inbox, which leaves a client with no way of knowing whether a lawyer exists at the other end. When the question is "do I actually own this mark", that uncertainty is the whole problem. So the desk is published as a person, with the bar he is admitted to and the teams that report to him.
It also sets expectations correctly in the other direction. Greg is our counsel, not yours. He can tell you exactly what our paperwork does, what rights transfer and when, and what a USPTO examiner is likely to say about a mark. He cannot act as your attorney or advise you on a dispute with a third party, and he will say so rather than blur the line.
What transfers to you, and when
Every package that produces original artwork transfers full copyright in the delivered design to the client on final payment. Not a licence, not a permission to use — assignment, in writing, signed from our side. That written record is what makes a trademark application in your name possible, and it is what a buyer’s solicitor will ask for if you ever sell the business.
| The delivered design | Assigned to you in full. Use it anywhere, forever, modify it, sell it with the business, register it. |
|---|---|
| Working files and source artwork | Handed over with the assignment on packages that include editable masters. |
| Concepts you did not choose | Stay with us and are not resold as-is to another client. If you want an unused direction assigned too, ask and it can be added. |
| Licensed third-party elements | Fonts and stock assets carry their own licences, which are named in the handover so you know what you hold. |
| Our portfolio use | We show finished work as ours to have made. If a launch is confidential, say so and it stays out of the portfolio. |
Trademarks, plainly
A logo and a trademark are different things. Copyright arrives automatically with the artwork and is what you get from us. A trademark is a registered right in a name or mark for a class of goods and services, granted by a government office, and it is the one that stops a competitor trading under something confusingly close to you.
The order matters: clearance search first, then filing. A search that comes back badly is a cheap result, because the alternative is discovering the conflict after you have printed the signage.
- 1Clearance search across the USPTO register and common-law use, with an honest read on the risk rather than a green light for the sake of it.
- 2Class selection — what you actually sell, not everything you might one day sell.
- 3Filing the application, with specimen and description prepared to the standard the examiner expects.
- 4Office actions: if an examiner comes back with questions or a refusal, the response is drafted and filed.
- 5Registration, then the renewal dates you will need to diarise.
Privacy and your data
Requests for a copy of what we hold, corrections to it, or deletion of it come to this desk and are answered in writing. So do questions about how the contact form and the brief form store what you send. The privacy policy is the standing answer; Greg is who you write to when your situation is not covered by it.
Write to Greg
Two or three lines about the business is enough to start. Within two business days, and faster where a filing deadline is running.