Intellectual property & copyright

This policy explains who owns the work created on FreelancerPeople, how rights and licences move between buyers and sellers as an order progresses, how we protect our own brand and platform, and what we expect from everyone when it comes to third-party intellectual property. It applies to every transaction on the marketplace, whether you buy or sell a packaged service (a "SERVE") or work under a custom contract — fixed-price or weekly-billed hourly.

It also sets out exactly how to report content you believe infringes a copyright you own, how the person who posted that content can respond, and how our Trust & Safety team acts on valid reports. Please read it alongside our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Community Guidelines; together they govern your use of FreelancerPeople. Nothing here is legal advice — if you are unsure about your rights, consult a qualified professional in your jurisdiction.

1. Ownership of deliverables & how rights transfer

On FreelancerPeople, the default rule is simple: the buyer is meant to own the final paid-for work, and the seller is meant to be paid before they part with their rights. To protect both sides, all payments run through 100% escrow — the buyer's funds are held securely (in their wallet or charged at checkout) and are not released to the seller until the delivery has been submitted and the order has been accepted or auto-accepted at the end of the review window.

Until an order is fully paid and accepted, the seller retains ownership of the work they have produced. Once the order is complete — meaning the buyer has paid in full and the delivery has been accepted — the seller assigns to the buyer all rights in the final deliverables that the seller created specifically for that order, to the extent permitted by law and consistent with the scope agreed in the SERVE description or custom contract. From that point, the buyer may use, modify, reproduce, and publish the final work for the purpose it was commissioned.

What transfers: the final, delivered work produced for the order — for example the finished design files, the written copy, the edited video, or the source code agreed in the brief.
What does not transfer automatically: a seller's pre-existing tools, templates, frameworks, fonts, stock assets, plug-ins, or general know-how. The seller may grant the buyer a licence to use these as embedded in the deliverable, but they keep ownership of the underlying components unless the contract clearly says otherwise.
Third-party and licensed assets: where a deliverable includes stock photography, music, fonts, or other licensed material, the buyer's right to use it is governed by that third party's licence. Sellers must disclose any such material and the terms attached to it before delivery.
Custom terms: a SERVE description, package, add-on, or custom contract can expand or limit these defaults — for example by reserving portfolio rights for the seller or by requiring an extended commercial licence for the buyer. Whatever is clearly stated and agreed at order time prevails. Put unusual requirements in writing in the order before work begins.

Because rights follow payment, a cancelled or refunded order does not transfer ownership to the buyer. If an order is cancelled or refunded through the Resolution Center or by our Payment Team, the seller keeps the rights to any unaccepted work, and the buyer must not use deliverables they did not ultimately pay for. See our Refund & Cancellation Policy for how cancellations are handled.

2. Seller warranties of originality

When you sell on FreelancerPeople, you make a promise about the work you deliver. By submitting a delivery, you warrant that the work is your own original creation, or that you have all the rights, licences, and permissions necessary to deliver it and to pass the agreed rights to the buyer. This warranty is fundamental to how the marketplace earns trust.

You will not deliver work that copies, plagiarises, or substantially reproduces someone else's protected material without authorisation.
You will not pass off AI-generated, stock, or third-party content as bespoke work where the order calls for original creation, and you will disclose any licensed or third-party components and the terms that govern them.
You hold valid licences for any fonts, images, audio, code libraries, or other assets embedded in your deliverable, and those licences permit the buyer's intended use.
Your deliverable does not, to the best of your knowledge, infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other right of any third party.

If a deliverable turns out to infringe someone's rights, the seller is responsible for resolving it — including, where appropriate, redelivering compliant work or supporting a refund. Repeated or deliberate breaches of this warranty are treated as serious violations and may lead to account action by our Trust & Safety team, separate from any dispute over the individual order.

3. Buyer-provided materials & licence to the seller

Most projects require the buyer to share material so the seller can do the work — brand assets, logos, photos, copy, brand guidelines, data, login credentials, or reference files. You keep ownership of everything you provide. By sharing these materials for a project, you grant the seller a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use them strictly for the purpose of researching, producing, revising, and delivering your order, for the duration of that work.

This licence is purpose-bound. A seller may not reuse your materials for other clients, resell them, publish them, or use them in their portfolio unless you have given clear permission. When the order ends, the seller's right to use your materials ends too, except where retention is genuinely necessary — for example to keep records, comply with law, or honour a clearly agreed portfolio right.

Only share what you have the right to share. By uploading material, you confirm you own it or are authorised to provide it for the project, and that the seller's use as described will not infringe anyone's rights.
Sensitive material: for confidential or proprietary files, agree handling terms in writing before sharing, and remember that file uploads in chat and requirements are subject to the retention behaviour described in our platform documentation.
Be specific: if you want to grant or withhold a portfolio or reuse right, say so in the order so both sides are clear.

4. FreelancerPeople platform content & trademarks

The FreelancerPeople platform itself is protected intellectual property. The "FreelancerPeople" name, our logos, brand marks, the "SERVE" terminology, "Resolution Center", and other distinctive names and designs are trademarks or brand assets of FreelancerPeople. The website design, user interface, layout, graphics, code, copy, and other materials we create are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by copyright and other laws.

We grant you a personal, limited, revocable licence to use the platform for its intended purpose: discovering services, buying, selling, communicating, and managing your account. That licence does not let you copy, scrape, frame, resell, reverse-engineer, or build a competing or derivative service from our content, nor does it grant you any rights in our brand. You may not use our name, logo, or marks in a way that suggests endorsement, partnership, or affiliation without our prior written permission.

Listings, profiles, portfolio samples, and reviews that users post remain the property of those users, who grant us a licence to host, display, distribute, and promote that content as part of operating and marketing the marketplace. Our Marketplace Team reviews and publishes listings and may remove or adjust content that breaches our policies. None of this changes who owns the deliverables of an actual order, which is governed by Section 1.

5. Respecting third-party intellectual property

Everyone on FreelancerPeople — buyers and sellers alike — must respect the intellectual property of others. You may not post, deliver, request, or facilitate work that infringes a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, publicity, or privacy right, and you may not ask a seller to copy a brand, clone a protected design, or reproduce someone else's work without authorisation.

No counterfeits or knock-offs: services that imitate protected brands, logos, or trademarked goods are prohibited.
No unlicensed assets: do not use or deliver stock media, fonts, software, or code outside the terms of a valid licence.
No bypassing protections: do not offer or request work that circumvents technical protection measures, watermarks, or rights-management systems.
Give proper credit and licences: when work legitimately incorporates third-party material, ensure the licence permits the intended use and pass on any required attribution.

If you are unsure whether a request or a deliverable is allowed, treat caution as the safer choice and ask before proceeding. Knowingly trafficking in infringing work harms the people who created the original and undermines trust across the whole marketplace.

6. Reporting copyright infringement (takedown notice)

If you own a copyright (or are authorised to act for the owner) and you believe content on FreelancerPeople infringes it — for example a listing image, a portfolio sample, a profile, a message, or a delivered file you have access to — you can ask us to review and remove it. Send a written notice to our designated contact (see Section 10). To let us act quickly and fairly, your notice should include all of the following.

Your full name, organisation (if any), and the contact details (email, and address where relevant) at which we can reach you.
A clear identification of the copyrighted work you say has been infringed — for instance a link to the original, a copy, or a precise description.
The exact location of the allegedly infringing material on FreelancerPeople — the URL, profile, listing, order, or message — described specifically enough that we can find it.
A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use complained of is not authorised by you (the rights owner), your agent, or the law.
A statement, made under penalty of perjury where applicable, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the rights owner or are authorised to act on the owner's behalf.
Your physical or electronic signature.

Please submit complete and honest notices. Filing a report that knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing can expose you to liability and may itself be a violation of our policies. If your notice is missing essential details, our Trust & Safety team may ask you for more information before acting.

7. Filing a counter-notice

If your content was removed or disabled in response to a copyright report and you believe that was a mistake — for example because you own the work, you are properly licensed, or the use is otherwise lawful — you can submit a counter-notice to the same designated contact. A counter-notice tells us you dispute the takedown and want the content restored.

Your full name and contact details (email and, where relevant, address).
Identification of the material that was removed or disabled and the location where it appeared before removal.
A statement, under penalty of perjury where applicable, that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification.
Where required by the law that applies to you, your consent to the jurisdiction of an appropriate court and your agreement to accept service of process from the party who filed the original report.
Your physical or electronic signature.

When we receive a valid counter-notice, we may share it with the original reporter. Depending on the law that applies and whether the reporter pursues the matter, we may restore the content after an appropriate interval. A counter-notice is a formal legal statement, not a casual appeal — submit it only if you genuinely have the right to use the content.

8. Action on valid reports & the repeat-infringer policy

When our Trust & Safety team receives a valid report, we review it and take proportionate action. That can include removing or disabling the reported content, hiding a listing, pausing a SERVE, warning the user, or — for serious or repeated cases — limiting or terminating the account. We aim to be fair to everyone, so we look at the report, any counter-notice, and the history of the accounts involved before deciding.

Content action: infringing listings, profiles, samples, or messages may be taken down or restricted while we review.
Order and money impact: where infringement affects a live order, our Payment Team may hold the related funds in escrow, and any cancellation, refund, or release follows our Refund & Cancellation Policy and, where relevant, the Resolution Center.
Repeat infringers: we maintain a repeat-infringer policy. Accounts that repeatedly post or deliver infringing material, or that ignore valid notices, face escalating consequences up to permanent removal from FreelancerPeople, at the discretion of our Trust & Safety team.
Abuse of the process: sending bad-faith or knowingly false reports or counter-notices is itself a violation and may lead to action against the account that filed them.

Enforcement decisions are made by our Trust & Safety team, not by other users. The marketplace community can report concerns, but only our teams decide what is removed, restricted, or restored.

9. Identity verification, withdrawals & IP responsibility

To withdraw earnings, sellers complete KYC identity verification, and payouts become available after a short clearance window once an order is accepted. This verification supports a trustworthy marketplace and means we can act responsibly when IP issues arise. If a delivery is found to infringe a third party's rights, our Payment Team may hold or reverse the associated funds while the matter is resolved through the Resolution Center, consistent with our escrow and refund rules.

Your standing on the platform — including your seller level — does not change your IP obligations or your rights under this policy. The platform fee shown before you confirm an order and the clearance window described at checkout apply as presented at the time, and your responsibility to deliver only original, non-infringing work stays the same.

10. Contact & designated point of contact

To report copyright infringement, submit a counter-notice, or ask a question about this policy, contact us through our Contact page and address your message to our Trust & Safety team. Mark copyright matters clearly so they can be routed quickly, and include all of the details listed in Section 6 (for reports) or Section 7 (for counter-notices) so we can act without delay.

For general help with your account, an order, or how a feature works, our Support team is the right place to start, and disputes about a specific order are handled in the Resolution Center. We may update this policy from time to time as the platform and the law evolve; the "last updated" note at the top of this page reflects the current version, and your continued use of FreelancerPeople means you accept the version in effect.