Do you keep the rights to your designs when you sell them online?

In this video, I talk about who keeps the rights to your artwork, repeat pattern designs, or other creative products you are selling online.

I am NOT a lawyer. Please do your research and/or contact a lawyer to learn more about the copyright and license types for artwork and graphic design.

SHORT ANSWER: Yes, you keep all the rights to your artwork and you can remove it from the website if you choose to stop selling your artwork or design online.

The website that you choose to sell your designs on does not keep the copyright to your images, but please read their terms of use before uploading your files.

Which rights do your customers get? That depends on which license type did they buy. Royalty Free or Extended License.

Also, there is an Exclusive License – you can create a file and sell it as an exclusive license personally to a client, but you can’t at the same time license it online after you sold it as an exclusive license already.

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Do You Get to Keep the Rights to Your Work When You Sell Your Designs Online? Let’s Find Out!

This topic is near and dear to my heart as a textile designer with over 13 years of experience. The question I want to answer is, “Do you get to keep the rights to your work when you sell your designs online?” I want to start by saying that I am not a lawyer, so please do not take this as legal advice. Instead, think of this as information that will help you to research the topic further and talk to a lawyer if you need to.

As the creator of your work, you are the author of the rights to it, regardless of whether you register your work with a particular organization. When you sell your designs online on various websites, you enter into a contract with those websites. It’s crucial to understand which contract you are signing when you become a contributor on those websites.

For example, when you sell your designs on a microstock website like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock, the website acts as an intermediary between you as the creator and the clients who want to license your work. A license is created between you and the clients, and the website provides that license to the clients on your behalf. But the website doesn’t keep the rights to your work – you do.

It’s important to note that you can sell either exclusive or non-exclusive rights to your work. If you sell exclusive rights, it means that you have created a piece of work for a specific customer, and they are the only ones who can use it. This is possible with microstock websites, but usually, you license your work to multiple clients with different types of licenses, such as personal or commercial use licenses.

While it can be confusing at first, just remember that you keep the rights to your work when you create it and when you sell it. Unfortunately, people sometimes get into trouble because they steal other people’s work, but don’t let that fear stop you from creating and licensing your work online. You can license your work to other clients again automatically via the website or personally if they get in contact with you.

If you license your work exclusively to a customer, make sure you have a contract in place and that you don’t license it to anyone else. Exclusive licenses can be for a specific time frame, such as one year or six months, after which you can license it to other clients. It’s important to talk to a lawyer to find out more about this and to study the topic further.

In conclusion, I hope this video has been helpful to all my creative friends out there. If you want to know how to grow your repeat pattern design portfolio faster, check out my free bonus workbook in the info card or in the video description. And if you liked this video, please share it with your creative friends and subscribe to my Youtube channel and this blog to stay tuned for the new videos. 

Hope this video was helpful for you to get you started understanding art and design licenses and if you get to keep the rights to your artwork and designs if you sell them online, for example on microstock and print-on-demand websites. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

Grow, Love, and Create!

Oksancia