Should I sign a contract that gives clients ownership of unused sketches?

[LaylaP]

I just had a potential client ask me to sign a contract that includes a clause saying they own all the preliminary sketches and discarded concepts from our project. I’ve never seen this level of ownership over my unused work before, and I’m not sure if this is a standard thing I should just accept or a major red flag for my creative process.

[Harper.H]

That clause sounds off to me. I’ve had clients want rights to the final deliverables, but never to the sketches I shelved. In practice I’ve negotiated to keep my unused ideas unless I sign a separate license, and I’ve kept the right to reuse concepts elsewhere.

[Edward.H]

That line about ownership of the sketches is a red flag. If you can’t strike it, push for a carve-out: you keep ownership of the final work, and the client gets a limited license to use only what’s delivered; you keep the discarded concepts.

[Natalie_J]

I tried a similar stance once: we kept the final deliverables, clarified that discarded ideas stay with me, and the project still moved forward. But the client pushed back and we had to adjust scope, so it wasn’t clean.

[Hannah30]

Maybe the bigger issue is the process and expectations, not IP per se. It felt like a risk assessment under the hood. I spent a week debating it and I still wasn’t sure we were aligned on what counts as final.