AI logo, Canva or a designer?

To test a name, for a personal project or an event, a template can be enough: Canva itself describes its logo templates as useful for small or personal projects where you don’t need exclusive rights, or as a starting point for your own design¹. For a business logo, the tool’s licence sets clear limits.

• Library content. Canva’s Content License Agreement prohibits using its free or Pro content as part of a trade mark, trade name or business name, with the exception of fonts². Canva adds that simple shapes and lines may also be used¹.
• Templates. Other Canva users are free to use the same content in their designs¹, so a logo made from a template is not yours alone.
• What remains possible. For a logo meant to become a trade mark, Canva says you can use its fonts, simple shapes and lines, or upload your own graphics, drawn yourself or commissioned from a designer¹.
• Logo generators. Looka’s terms allow commercial use of the logo you buy. They also state that some fonts and symbols may be licensed from third parties, that symbols from The Noun Project are used at your own risk, and recommend checking that no third-party rights apply before you use the logo³.

ChatGPT, Midjourney and Canva’s AI tools generate an image from a short description. Their terms generally assign the result to you, with conditions worth reading before you turn it into a logo.

These terms govern your relationship with the tool, not the protection of the result: OpenAI only assigns you whatever rights it has, if any, and Midjourney refers you to your own lawyer on the state of the law where you are^4,6.

• OpenAI (ChatGPT). Its terms for Europe, which also apply in Switzerland, give you ownership of the output to the extent permitted by law. They state that it may not be unique and that other users may receive similar output⁴.
• Canva. Its AI Product Terms carry the same caveat, and do not give you ownership of output that modifies or incorporates content from the Canva library⁵.
• Midjourney. You own your images to the fullest extent possible under law, but a company with more than USD 1 million in annual revenue needs a Pro or Mega plan to own them. By default, images are publicly visible and can be remixed by other members, and you grant Midjourney a licence to reproduce and distribute them⁶.

The Copyright Act defines works as literary and artistic intellectual creations with individual character, and the author as the natural person who created the work⁷. Protection arises automatically when the work is created; there is no register⁸.

According to the IPI, output produced with AI can be protected if a person uses the tool as an instrument and makes the creative effort themselves, like a photographer with a camera. If the creative effort comes from the AI, for example from a trivial prompt, the result is not protected^9,10.

Unprotected output may be used freely from a copyright standpoint, unless it reproduces protected works: anyone who uses infringing output infringes copyright too, even without knowing it. The IPI therefore advises checking a generated image before using it, for example with an image search and for watermarks or artists’ signatures, and reading the tool’s terms, which may prohibit commercial use^9,10.

The framework is changing: Switzerland has no overarching AI-specific legislation yet, and following the adoption of Motion 24.4596 the IPI is drafting AI rules specific to copyright; the Federal Council will decide on the consultation¹¹.

This guide summarises these sources and is not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property.

An entry in the commercial register protects your company name, not its logo; for the logo, the IPI points to trade mark protection¹². A logo is filed as a figurative mark, or as a combined word and figurative mark if it pairs words with an image or uses designed lettering. Without a colour claim, it is protected in all colours¹³.

For the IPI, any sign that can be represented graphically can be a trade mark if it distinguishes your goods or services from those of your competitors. Excluded are, among others, simple and commonplace signs, descriptive or misleading indications and signs contrary to the law or public policy^12,14.

The IPI does not check, however, whether your trade mark resembles one already registered: in a conflict, your right could be revoked or become the subject of civil or criminal proceedings, and the IPI recommends a search before you apply¹². This is where the logo’s origin matters: a template element or an AI image can turn up elsewhere too^1,4.

The filing fee is CHF 450, with a CHF 100 discount for online applications; further fees can apply depending on the number of goods or services, and a search or a representative cost extra¹².

10 yearsof protection for a registered trade mark, renewable for ten years at a time, indefinitely¹²

Whatever the tool or provider, check what you receive. A logo appears at every size, from the website icon to the shop sign, so ask for these files.

• A vector file, in SVG or PDF. SVG describes graphics as vectors and scales to any display resolution¹⁵: this is the version that enlarges without loss for print and signage.
• PNG files with a transparent background for the website, documents and social media. PNG stores images losslessly and can include transparency, but it remains a pixel image¹⁶.
• A square version. Google requires a square favicon of at least 8 × 8 pixels and recommends one larger than 48 × 48 pixels¹⁷; a wide logo needs a symbol or a compact version.
• Variants: colour, black and white, and a light version for dark backgrounds.
• The list of fonts used, with their licences.

Our offer

Goodbye Internet draws its logos and artwork without generative AI; AI is only used for presentation mockups.

Our custom logo is a fixed-scope offer, paid once. Its final price is on the service page; Goodbye Internet is not registered for VAT. What a logo costs in Switzerland is compared in our logo price guide.

Economic rights to the logo and its source files transfer to you once full payment is received. We may show the project in our public portfolio unless you ask us not to in writing before delivery. Third-party elements, such as a licensed typeface, remain under their own licences, which we share at delivery. If you plan to register the logo as a trade mark, run a trade mark search before you approve the final version.

• 2 concepts, then 2 revision rounds to refine the direction you choose.
• Final files: SVG, PNG, PDF.
• A private brief after payment: your business, audience, preferences and references, with your existing materials attached.
• A delivery date set when payment opens, 14 calendar days later, and shown before you pay.

This guide is written by Goodbye Internet, which also sells logos and websites. The facts and figures it cites come from the sources below; sections about our own offer are marked with a coloured dot.

1. Canva, “Licensing explained” canva.com
2. Canva, Content License Agreement, section 9 canva.com
3. Looka, Terms of Service looka.com
4. OpenAI, Europe Terms of Use, updated 16 January 2026 openai.com
5. Canva, AI Product Terms, effective 26 June 2026 canva.com
6. Midjourney, Terms of Service, effective 27 May 2026 docs.midjourney.com
7. Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights (CopA), Art. 2 and 6 fedlex.admin.ch
8. Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI), “Copyright” ige.ch
9. IPI, “Artificial intelligence: can AI tools infringe copyright?”, February 2023 ige.ch
10. Federal Chancellery, “FAQ KI und Urheberrecht”, provided by the IPI, May 2026 (in German) bk.admin.ch
11. IPI, “Copyright: does AI change everything?”, September 2026 ige.ch
12. IPI, Trade marks: FAQs ige.ch
13. IPI, “Trade mark types” ige.ch
14. IPI, “Grounds for refusal” ige.ch
15. W3C, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 w3.org
16. W3C, Portable Network Graphics (PNG), third edition w3.org
17. Google Search Central, “Define a favicon to show in search results” developers.google.com