Intellectual Property Policy

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind and includes things like inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols. It is protected by legal rights like copyright and trademarks, which enable people to have exclusive rights over their creations and to only allow other people to use their creations with their permission.

Copyright protects the expression of an original idea in a material form. It protects artistic works (such as graphics or photographs), literary works (such as poems, lyrics and stories), films, musical works and sound recordings.

Trademarks protect the use of particular marks, from words and logos, to colors and sounds, that distinguish a source of goods or services.

Who owns the IP in a design made on Canva?

This depends on its composition. Generally speaking, if you’re the creator of an original design, you’re also the copyright owner. But if you used third-party content (e.g. Licensed Content from the Canva library) in your design, your ownership is subject to those third-party rights (for example, you can’t claim copyright ownership of a photo from the Canva library you have used in your design - you only have a license to use that photo).

Canva gives you non-exclusive licenses to use various elements in your designs, including photos, graphics, videos, fonts, and music. For more information, read our Content License Agreement⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Submitting an infringement notice to Canva

Canva will respond to alleged copyright infringement notices that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) and trademark infringement notices that comply with this policy.

If you are a Canva Creator reporting originality concerns about a template, please do not follow this process and instead share the template details by submitting a request through the Creators support form.⁠(opens in a new tab or window)

Copyright infringement

If you believe that your copyright work has been infringed in a way that is accessible via the Service, please notify Canva via the form below, which will ask you for the following information:

1. An electronic or physical signature of the copyright owner or a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner;
2. Identification of the copyright work that you claim has been infringed (if applicable, you can provide the registration number and jurisdiction);
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on the Service (e.g. URL);
4. Your address, telephone number and e-mail address;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or law; and
6. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner.

Trademark infringement

If you believe that your registered trademark has been infringed in a way that is accessible via the Service, please notify Canva via the form below, which will ask you for the following information:

1. An electronic or physical signature of the registered trademark owner or a person authorized to act on behalf of the trademark owner;
2. Identification of the trademark that you claim has been infringed, including the the official number, jurisdiction, goods and/or services and status;
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on the Service (e.g. URL);
4. An explanation of why you believe the reported material is used in violation of your trademark rights, including the specific goods and/or services you believe to be in use;
5. Your address, telephone number and e-mail address;
6. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the trademark owner, its agent or law; and
7. A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate, and that you are the trademark owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner.

Canva does not accept infringement notices in relation to unregistered trademark rights.

UNDER UNITED STATES FEDERAL LAW, IF YOU KNOWINGLY MISREPRESENT THAT ONLINE MATERIAL IS INFRINGING, YOU MAY BE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR PERJURY AND CIVIL PENALTIES, INCLUDING MONETARY DAMAGES, COURT COSTS, AND ATTORNEYS’ FEES.

Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying Canva that your copyright or trademark material has been infringed. The preceding requirements are intended to comply with Canva’s rights and obligations under law, but do not constitute legal advice. It may be advisable to seek legal advice regarding your rights and obligations under the DMCA and other applicable laws.

What happens after an infringement notice has been submitted?

Canva has an obligation to act on copyright infringement notices filed in accordance with the DMCA. If Canva receives a valid copyright infringement notice, the cited material will be removed from the Service and we will notify the Canva user who published that material.

If Canva receives a valid trademark infringement notice, Canva will undertake an investigation and may, in its discretion, take actions including removing the cited material from the Service and notifying the Canva user who published that material.

Submitting a counter notice

If you believe that your content was taken down in error, you may submit a counter notice.

The counter notice must include the following information in writing:

1. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the relevant content;
2. A description of the content we have removed, including where it was located on the Service (e.g. URL);
3. Your address, telephone number, and email address;
4. A statement by you that you consent to the jurisdiction of any United States federal district court in California and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification described above or an agent of such person;
5. A statement by you that, under penalty of perjury, you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
   

The above information must be submitted to the DMCA Agent whose details are available below.

REMEMBER: False statements in a counter notice may lead to criminal or civil penalties.

If you are unsure why your work has been included in an infringement notice you may wish to seek independent legal advice. Canva is unable to provide legal advice to users.

If your counter notice is complete and valid we will forward it directly to the complainant with your contact information. At that time, the complainant may take legal action against you in the United States. If after 10-14 days the complainant has not taken legal action against you, you may contact us to request that we reinstate your content. If your content otherwise complies with our Terms of Use, we may reinstate your content at that time.

Contact information for Canva’s DMCA designated agent is available here⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Repeat infringement

In accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, Canva has adopted a policy of terminating, in appropriate circumstances, users who we consider to be repeat infringers.

Canva may also at its sole discretion limit access to the Service and/or terminate the accounts of any users who infringe any intellectual property rights of others, whether or not there is any repeat infringement.

Infringement outside of Canva

Unfortunately Canva is unable to assist our community with any infringement of their work that has occurred outside of Canva (eg on an online marketplace). We suggest following any reporting procedures available on the relevant website or seeking independent legal advice.