Unentgeltliche Herausgabe von Arbeitsdateien und Nutzungsrechten

Definition

Australian graphic design pricing norms often distinguish between final deliverables (e.g. print‑ready PDFs, packaged InDesign files for a specific campaign) and underlying working files or extended usage rights (e.g. perpetual, global, all‑media use). In many small agencies and freelancers, this distinction is not codified in contracts or project close‑out checklists. When a client later requests source files for internal re‑use or other vendors, agencies frequently provide them without additional fees to preserve the relationship, effectively giving away valuable IP and future work. Industry benchmarks and practitioner surveys in creative and branding work show that IP buy‑outs and extended usage can add 20–100% on top of base design fees; in practice, many SMEs in Australia do not charge this increment. For a branding project priced at AUD 10,000–20,000, lost IP/licensing upsell can easily be AUD 2,000–15,000 over time. Poor file archiving exacerbates this, as agencies cannot quickly determine what assets and licences exist, so they default to granting broad permissions rather than spending unbillable hours reconstructing asset histories.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Graphic design firms in Australia 🇦🇺 forgo AUD 1,000–10,000 per larger client over the life of the relationship by giving away source files and broad IP rights. A structured handover and archiving policy that clearly separates deliverables from optional IP buy‑outs can convert this leakage into predictable revenue.

Affected Stakeholders

Agency owners, Account managers, Project managers, Finance managers, Freelance designers negotiating their own terms

Related Business Risks