Can you use a logo created by ChatGPT for business purposes?

Imagine: you’re starting a new business and don’t have the budget for an expensive designer. You type a few sentences into ChatGPT, and within seconds a sleek logo appears. Attractive, quick and free. You immediately put it on your website, your business cards and your packaging.

Can you just do that? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.

Who is actually the creator?

Copyright arises in a work as soon as it has an original character of its own that bears the creator’s personal stamp. This requires a human creative choice. An AI model such as ChatGPT makes independent design choices regarding shape, colour and composition based on a prompt. Under current law, this means the required human creative input is lacking, so a logo generated purely by AI is, in principle, not eligible for copyright protection.

What does this mean for you? Put simply: if no one holds the copyright to the logo, anyone can, in theory, use it – including your competitor.

What do OpenAI’s terms of use say?

There is also another layer to consider: the contract you enter into with OpenAI. OpenAI’s terms of use generally stipulate that, to the extent permitted by law, you are assigned the rights to the output and may use it commercially, provided you comply with the terms. This therefore governs the relationship between you and OpenAI. It does not determine whether the logo is protected by copyright, and it certainly does not determine whether the logo infringes the rights of a third party.

The real risk: infringement of existing trade marks and works

And that is the crux of the matter. ChatGPT has been trained on vast quantities of existing visual material. The result is that the generated logo may unintentionally bear a strong resemblance to an existing trade mark or design. If you use such a logo for business purposes, you run the risk of a trade mark owner or rights holder taking action against you for trade mark infringement or copyright infringement. That risk lies entirely with you as the user, not with OpenAI.

Another practical problem: can you register the logo itself as a trade mark? That, too, is more difficult than you might think. Trade mark registration requires, amongst other things, that the sign has distinctive character and has not already been registered by someone else. As you often do not know which existing images the AI has based its work on, it is difficult to assess in advance whether your ‘own’ logo will pass that test.

What can you do now?

• Use AI as a starting point, not as the end product. Have a designer edit and further develop the logo generated by ChatGPT. By adding sufficient human creative input, you will indeed establish copyright over the modified design.
• Carry out a trade mark check before you start using the logo. Check with the trade mark register (e.g. BOIP or EUIPO) to see if a similar mark has already been registered.
• Register your final logo as a trade mark. Copyright arises automatically but offers little certainty when it comes to AI output. A trade mark registration, however, does give you a solid and enforceable right.
• Document your design process. Keep a record of prompts, draft versions and modifications. This will help you demonstrate which human creative choices were made, should this become relevant later on.
• Are you unsure about a specific logo? Have it assessed in advance. Having to change a logo retrospectively, once it has already been printed on all your stationery and packaging, is considerably more expensive.

In short

A ChatGPT logo is quick, cheap and tempting. But without human creative input, you’re unlikely to hold the copyright to it, and without checking for existing trademarks and works, you run the risk of a claim for infringement. Do you want to be sure that your corporate identity is legally sound? Please feel free to get in touch; we’d be happy to help you work through the options.