Protecting Your Brand’s Intellectual Property: What Every Creative and Small Business Should Know
If you’ve ever wondered whether you actually own the creative work your freelancer designed, or whether that “free” font is really free, you’re not alone. IP law is one of those topics that feels abstract right up until it isn’t – and by then, a costly rebrand or a contract dispute is already underway.
We recently hosted a workshop from Sam Mazzeo, an attorney at Better APC, covering the essentials of trademarks, copyright, and how to keep your brand’s assets actually yours. Here are the high-level takeaways.
Know your three types of IP
Trademarks, copyright, and patents protect very different things. Trademarks are source identifiers – the logo, name, or slogan that tells people who’s behind a product. Copyright protects original creative work: photos, scripts, music, code. Patents cover novel inventions. Knowing which bucket your asset falls into determines how (and whether) you can protect it.
Trademarks: clear it before you build it
Before you commit to a name or logo, run a thorough trademark search. While you own a trademark under common law once you use it commercially, a rebrand after a cease-and-desist letter is far more expensive than the search would have been. It also helps to choose a distinctive, even invented, name – those are much easier to register than descriptive ones. And once you’re registered (with the USPTO), don’t forget to maintain and renew it, or you risk losing it.
Copyright protects you the moment you create – but registration is what gives it teeth
Your original work is protected automatically the moment it’s fixed in a tangible form – no filing required. But if you ever need to enforce that protection in court, you generally need to register first, and registering early (before infringement, or within three months of publishing) unlocks statutory damages and attorney’s fees. At $45–$65 per registration, it’s a small price for real leverage.
“Free” isn’t always free
Stock photos, fonts, and Creative Commons assets often come with strings attached – attribution requirements, restrictions on commercial use, and more. Read the license terms and keep proof of what you agreed to. Never, NEVER use screenshots or images from the internet without a license or permission directly from the image copyright owner.
Ownership doesn’t transfer automatically
This is the one that trips up a lot of small teams and nonprofits: volunteers and freelancers don’t automatically hand over ownership of what they create for you. Without a signed, written assignment, that logo or website your board member built might legally still belong to them. Get IP assignments in writing – even for donated work – while relationships are strong.
AI-generated content has real IP limits
Purely AI-generated material can’t be copyrighted in the U.S., since copyright requires a human author. If you’re using AI in client-facing or brand work, disclose it, and spell out ownership clearly in your contracts.
Bottom line: protecting your brand isn’t about locking everything down defensively – it’s about knowing what you actually own, documenting it, and putting the right agreements in place before you need them.
Many thanks to Sam Mazzeo and the team at Better APC for the workshop this post is based on. For more on protecting your creative work, visit Better APC’s Protecting Your Work resources.
