Does Your Client Actually Own What You Created?
Under UK law, freelancers retain copyright in their work by default. Most freelance contracts get this wrong — either giving too much away too early, or creating ambiguity that ends in a dispute.
Three questions. Instant IP risk assessment. Based on the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
When does your contract say IP transfers to the client?
This is the single most important clause in any creative or technical contract. The default under UK law (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) is that IP created by a freelancer remains with the freelancer — it does not automatically belong to the client just because they paid for it.
Does your contract include a portfolio rights clause?
Without a portfolio clause, clients can argue that showing client work in your portfolio breaches confidentiality. This is a common dispute, especially in agency engagements. A portfolio rights clause explicitly reserves your right to reference the project in your own marketing.
Does your contract include an explicit IP assignment clause?
A licence allows the client to use your work; an assignment transfers ownership. They are not the same thing. Many contracts grant a licence but never actually assign the IP — meaning the client thinks they own it outright, but legally they only have permission to use it. For work that will be embedded in a client's product, registered, or resold, they need an assignment, not a licence.
The CDPA default that most freelancers don’t know
Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the first owner of copyright in a work is generally its author. For freelancers, that means you— not your client — own the copyright in what you create, unless you have signed something that says otherwise.
The practical implication: if a client never signed a contract with an IP assignment clause, they do not legally own the work they paid for. They have an implied licence to use it for the purpose it was commissioned, but they cannot register it as a trademark, embed it in an acquisition, sublicense it, or create derivative works without your consent.
Most clients assume they own everything they paid for. This assumption is wrong under UK law, and it creates the conditions for expensive disputes. A clear contract eliminates the dispute before it starts — for both parties.