Intellectual property infringement
Claims that artwork, imagery, a typeface or a mark infringed someone else's rights.
Graphic Designer Professional Indemnity
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Graphic Designer Professional Indemnity
Professional indemnity for graphic designers and design studios.
Design claims are rarely about the design being disliked. They are about a typeface licensed for web being used in print, a stock image used past its licence, a mark close enough to another to draw a letter, or a wrong phone number across a hundred thousand printed flyers. The loss is the reprint bill or the infringement settlement.
What is it?
Graphic designers produce branding, packaging, print collateral, publications, digital and social assets and website design, usually working with stock libraries, licensed typefaces and third-party contributors. There is no registration regime, but agency, government and enterprise contracts commonly require a professional indemnity limit and may specifically ask for intellectual property infringement cover. Ownership and licensing terms are set in your own client agreement.
What does graphic designer professional indemnity cover?
Errors in artwork
Reprint and reproduction costs where an error went to print or to air.
Deadlines and deliverables
Losses from late delivery or work that did not meet the agreed brief.
What affects the cost?
- Turnover and client size
- Print, packaging and large-run work
- Use of stock and licensed assets
- Contract limits required by clients
- Claims history
Worth raising on the call
- Written approval and sign-off records are the main defence in a reprint claim.
- Font and stock licences are scope-limited, and exceeding that scope is an infringement.
- IP infringement is an extension in some wordings and an exclusion in others.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Stock image used outside its licence
An image bought under a standard web licence is used on packaging and outdoor signage, and the library's enforcement agent issues a demand months later. The claim typically covers the retrospective licence fee, legal costs and reworking the artwork across every affected asset.
Wrong detail in a printed run
An incorrect phone number or expiry date goes to print on a catalogue that has already been produced and distributed. The reprint and redistribution cost is the loss, and the signed proof usually decides whether the designer or the client carries it.
New logo close to a registered mark
A rebrand launches and the owner of a similar registered trade mark sends a letter of demand. Rebranding across signage, vehicles, packaging and digital assets generally costs many times the original design fee, which is what makes these claims significant.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether intellectual property and trade mark infringement is included as standard, because some wordings offer it as an extension and others exclude it entirely.
- Worth confirming whether the cost of reprinting or re-running material is contemplated, or whether the policy responds only to a third party's claim against you.
- Worth confirming whether work produced by freelancers, studios and contractors you engage is covered when you issue it under your own name.
Common questions
Does professional indemnity cover copyright infringement?
It depends entirely on the wording. Designer-focused policies commonly include an intellectual property infringement extension, while broader professional indemnity wordings sometimes exclude it, and deliberate infringement is generally not covered anywhere. Because IP is one of the most likely claims a designer will face, this is the clause worth checking first.
What if the client supplied the image or the copy?
It can help, but it rarely transfers the liability on its own. The rights holder will usually pursue whoever published or produced the work, and you may then need to rely on your client agreement to pass it on. A written warranty from the client about supplied assets, and a record of it, is the practical protection.
Do clients actually require designers to hold it?
Agency, government and larger corporate contracts commonly specify a professional indemnity limit and sometimes name intellectual property infringement expressly. Smaller direct clients often do not ask. The requirement usually comes from the contract rather than from law, so read the engagement terms.
What does graphic designer professional indemnity cost?
It is rated rather than fixed. Insurers look at turnover and client size, the proportion of print, packaging and large-run work, use of stock and licensed assets, the limits your contracts require, and claims history. Large print runs and packaging work generally rate higher because a single error is expensive to correct.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See professional indemnity insurance for the wider picture.
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