Re: Intellectual Rights

Javier,
It's complicated. You may own the character concept, but not the tangible expression of them. You may own the expression of them, but not the character concept. It greatly depends on what you were actually hired to do and what you gave them as part of the agreement. Even with no contract, there has to be some verbal contract.

Do you have email threads that speak to the roles and responsibilities of each party in the agreement?

Rather than approach this pessimistically, you should approach it as an opportunity to further develop the characters and their visual representation... this time with a clear contract that covers who owns what.

I'm assuming that they would need tangible representation of the characters in a different format or medium than you have already provided. If they are simply re-purposing what you have already provided to them, you may have a tougher call to make.

The big question is "How much do you value the intellectual property at stake?" It seems that it's at least worth opening the dialog with the client, but I have to warn you that clients tend to understand these things even less than artists. That's when they bring lawyers in to explain it to them - and a lawyer is always going to present and fight for the most advantageous position for the person who is paying them.

It boggles my mind when people don't use contracts - or when they are in the mindset that a contract is only useful if something goes wrong. It's not so much for when things go wrong - the best use of a contract is to ensure what "things going right" means. A contract is simply a tool for you and your clients to clarify expectations on both sides of the fence before the work starts - so that you are both happy when the terms of the agreement are met.

Apologies for the rant.
Best of luck to you!