Protecting a logo, a drawing or a photo

A logo reused by a competitor, an illustration copied onto a product, a photo published without your consent. Visual creations travel fast, and get copied even faster. Several forms of protection exist. They do not cover the same situations.

Copyright protects from the moment of creation

A logo, a drawing, an illustration or a photo is protected by copyright as soon as it is created, provided it is original. Originality means the creation bears the imprint of its author's personality, through their choices: composition, framing, colors, lines, light. No filing is needed.

Copyright lets you object to the reproduction and distribution of your creation without your consent. To enforce it, you must be able to prove you are the author, and when the creation existed.

For a logo: the trademark

A logo identifies a company, a product or a service. For this commercial use, the most suitable protection is a trademark. Registered with INPI, the French national intellectual property office, a trademark protects the logo for the goods and services you designate, for ten years, and can be renewed indefinitely.

The two forms of protection complement each other. Copyright protects the logo's design from the moment it is created. The trademark protects its commercial use in your sector. Before the trademark is filed, dated proof of the logo's creation remains useful. After filing, regularly timestamping your materials also shows genuine use of the trademark.

An important point: if the logo was created by a freelance designer or an agency, the copyright belongs to them until a written contract assigns it to you. Check this before filing the trademark.

For a design applied to a product: registered designs

A pattern printed on fabric, the shape of an object or a packaging design can be registered with INPI as a design. Protection lasts five years, and can be extended in five-year periods up to twenty-five years. It protects the appearance of the product.

This registration requires the creation to be new on the filing date. Timestamping your sketches and research lets you document how the design came about, before and after filing. To find out more, see our fashion and design page.

For a photo: keep proof of the shoot

An original photo is protected by copyright. When it is copied, the question is often who took it, and when. A few habits help:

Keep the original files. The camera's raw files, known as RAW files, and the full-resolution versions show that you are the source of the image.

Keep the other shots from the session. A series of shots taken around the same image is strong evidence of authorship.

Timestamp before you publish. A file's metadata, such as the shooting date, is easy to change. Independent dated proof is stronger.

The photographer's copyright is separate from the image rights of the people photographed. To publish a photo in which a person can be recognized, their consent is still required.

Good habits for all visual creations

Timestamp the stages, not only the final result: sketches, drafts, working files, intermediate versions. Timestamp before each delivery to a client or each online publication. Keep the source files, which often contain the history of the creation.

With Ipocamp, in practice

Ipocamp timestamps your files within seconds, whatever their format: image, working file, PDF, making-of video. Each deposit gets a certificate showing its date and its file fingerprint. To compare with other solutions, see our comparison. See also our offers for creators.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

To go further: our offer for creators and the fashion and design use case.