Legal Question in Business Law in California

Freelance Graphics � Who owns the native files?

I have been working at home as a

Graphic Designer for a company that

owns many different restaurant

franchises. They purchase the

''native files'' (all elements required

for editing) for ads, gift cards, etc.

from the various agencies of the

restaurants. I download those, and

with specific instruction (I know this

might be a factor) from my client, re-

purpose them for local use in various

sizes, purposes and formats. I also

sometimes design art for them from

scratch. They are now severing the

relationship due to $$

problems/restructuring and want

''their'' files. I want to give them

what they purchased from the

agencies as well as the high res PDF

files that I sent to their printers. No

contract was ever signed. Who owns

the native (editable) files that I

created? I believe they should have

to pay extra if they want those for

future re-purposing, which they do. I

should mention that in the past I

have sometimes provided them with

the native files for various purposes

without charging extra for them. I

saw this as a professional

courtesy...did I set a precedent that

will backfire on me?

1 Answer from Attorneys

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