Copyright for artists in India, in plain language

You own it from the moment you make it

Copyright in an original artistic work exists as soon as the work does. Registration is not required for the right to exist, though a record helps enormously when you need to prove when something was made and by whom.

This is not legal advice and a lawyer is the right person for anything contested. But the basic position surprises people: you did not have to do anything to own your work.

Licensing is not selling

When you list work on a marketplace you are usually granting a licence — permission to do specific things — rather than transferring ownership. A well-drawn arrangement says exactly what those things are and leaves everything else with you.

Read for exclusivity in particular. A non-exclusive licence lets you sell the same work elsewhere; an exclusive one does not, however it is phrased.

• What may be printed
• For how long
• Whether it is exclusive
• What happens when you withdraw

Commissioned work is different

When somebody pays you to make something specifically for them, ownership depends on what you agreed. It is entirely possible to be paid for a piece and still hold the copyright, and equally possible to assign it. What matters is that it was written down before the work started.

Say plainly in the agreement who owns the final artwork, whether you may show it in your portfolio, and whether the client may modify it.

Using other people's material

A reference photograph you did not take, a typeface you did not licence for commercial use, a character somebody else owns — each of these can make an otherwise original piece unsellable.

Fonts catch people out most often. A licence for personal use is not a licence to sell products with that lettering on.

If somebody copies you

Gather evidence first: your source files, the date, where you published it, and where the copy appeared. Most platforms have a takedown route and most will act on a credible complaint.

Escalating beyond that is a legal decision with costs attached, which is worth taking advice on rather than doing in anger.

Put the boring things in writing

Most disagreements are not bad faith; they are two people who each assumed something reasonable and different. A short written note of what was agreed prevents nearly all of it.

It does not need a lawyer for ordinary work. A few clear lines confirming what is being made, what the client may do with it, and whether you may show it are enough to make the assumption explicit.

Fonts and references catch people out most

A typeface licensed for personal use does not become commercial because you used it on something you sold. A photograph you found does not become yours because you drew from it closely.

Both are ordinary mistakes with real consequences, and both are avoidable by checking once before the work rather than after a complaint.

How to start

Everything runs through one place. Artists sign in at the artist studio, upload work, choose which products each piece suits, and see what they have earned. Customers browse the artwork, pick a design, and choose what to put it on.

Nothing about it is exclusive. You can sell the same work elsewhere at the same time, and there is no listing fee and no minimum.

• Apply with three pieces so we can see how you work
• Choose which products each design belongs on
• Get paid by bank transfer on what sells

Common questions