Your website is really four things
When owners say my website, they usually mean several separate assets, each with its own owner:
- The domain name, such as yourcompany.com, registered through a registrar.
- The hosting account where the site files live.
- The site itself: the design, the code, the text and the photos.
- The accounts around it: Google Business Profile, Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Ads and your email.
The domain: check who the registrant is
Under ICANN's transfer policy, the registered name holder, meaning the person or company listed as the registrant, is one of only two parties who can approve moving a domain, and its authority wins in a dispute with the administrative contact. If an agency registered your domain in its own name, it controls the address your customers type and every link that points to you.
To check, log in to your registrar account and confirm the registrant is your business, or search the domain in ICANN's registration data lookup. ICANN also publishes registrant rights, including your right to review the registration agreement and to get clear instructions for transferring a domain.
The design and code: copyright follows the paperwork
Under U.S. law, whoever creates a work usually owns its copyright. The Copyright Office explains that a work is made for hire, with the hiring party as owner, in just two situations: an employee creates it as part of the job, or it is specially commissioned, falls into one of nine listed categories, and both sides sign a written agreement calling it a work made for hire. A website built by an outside agency often does not fit neatly into those categories.
The dependable route is an assignment. The Copyright Office says a transfer of copyright generally has to be in writing and signed by the owner of the rights. Ask for a clause that assigns the design, the code and the content you paid for to your business once the invoice is settled.
Some parts will never be yours to own outright. Licensed themes, plugins, fonts and stock photos stay under their own licenses, so the contract should list them and confirm you can keep using them. This is general information, not legal advice; have an attorney review any contract you are unsure about.
Rented platforms: you can leave, the site cannot
If your site runs on a hosted builder or on an agency's proprietary system, owning the design may not help much, because the site cannot run anywhere else. Wix, for example, says its sites must run on Wix's servers. You keep your domain and your words, but leaving means rebuilding the pages.
The accounts around your site
These are easy to overlook and painful to recover. Hold the top role in each one and give your agency a lower level of access. At Modern Apex the client owns the ad account, and the websites we hand code belong to the client along with the domain.
- Search Console: every property needs at least one verified owner, and only owners can add or remove users.
- Google Analytics: administrators assign everyone else's roles, so your business should hold administrator access.
- Google Business Profile: a profile can have several owners but only one primary owner, and managers cannot add or remove users.
- Google Ads: the account should be in your business name, paid with your card.
What to get in writing before work starts
Put these points in the contract or statement of work, not in an email thread:
- The domain registered to your business, in a registrar account you control.
- A copyright assignment for the design, code and content once you have paid.
- A list of third-party licenses used on the site and who pays to renew them.
- Owner or administrator access to hosting, analytics, Search Console and your Business Profile.
- What the agency hands over if you part ways, in what format and how quickly.
Related questions
My old web designer will not give me my domain. What can I do?
First find out who the registrant is. If it is your business, contact the registrar to regain account access and request the transfer yourself. If the designer registered it in their own name, you need them to change the registrant or transfer it, and an attorney may be worth a call.
If I stop paying my agency, do I lose my website?
It depends on the contract and where the site lives. If the agency holds the hosting account, the copyright or the domain, it may be able to take the site down. If those are in your name and you have the files, you can move on. Read the termination clause before you sign.
What is a work made for hire?
It is a work whose legal author is the employer or the party that commissioned it, not the person who made it. Under U.S. copyright law that covers employees working within their job, and commissioned works in nine specific categories when both sides sign a written agreement saying so.
Can an agency reuse my website design for another client?
If the agency kept the copyright, possibly, unless your contract says otherwise. A written assignment, or at least an exclusivity clause, settles it. Text, photos and logos your business created are yours, so make sure the contract says they stay that way.
Sources
- U.S. Copyright Office Circular 30: Works Made for Hire
- U.S. Copyright Office Circular 1: Copyright Basics
- ICANN Transfer Policy
- ICANN: Registrants' benefits and responsibilities
- ICANN registration data lookup
- Wix Help Center: Exporting or embedding your Wix site elsewhere
- Search Console Help: Managing owners, users and permissions
- Analytics Help: Access and data-restriction management
- Business Profile Help: Manage owners and managers