Most business owners only ask this question when something goes wrong: the day they want to change provider, the agency closes, or the freelancer who built the site stops answering. The answer often comes as a surprise. Paying for a website is not, on its own, enough to own it. The rules differ depending on which part of the site we are talking about, and some of them are settled when you sign the quote, not afterwards.
This article sets out, with the legal texts to back it up, what actually belongs to you under French law, what may remain in your provider's hands, and the few precautions that prevent almost every dispute.
A “website” is really four different things
When you say “my website”, you are actually referring to several elements, each governed by its own legal or contractual rules:
- The domain name (your address, for example your-company.fr): it is governed by the rules of the registry that manages the extension and by your contract with the registrar.
- The design and the code: these are creative works protected by copyright, which belong to their author until they are assigned to you in writing.
- The content: texts, photos, videos, logos. Each has an author, who is not always you.
- Accounts and hosting: the server, admin access, your Google Business Profile, analytics tools. Here it is simply a matter of who opened the account and in whose name.
You can fully own one of these and not the others at all. Let's go through them one by one.
The domain name: everything depends on the “holder”
For .fr addresses, the registry is Afnic, the registration office designated by the French State. Its practical guide is very clear on the key notion: the holder (“titulaire”) of a domain name is the natural or legal person who appears as such in the Whois database, and who therefore holds the associated rights. In other words, the domain does not belong to whoever pays the yearly invoice, but to whoever is registered as its holder.
Among the situations Afnic says it frequently encounters is exactly the one we are concerned with: a business that asked an IT provider to register its domain name, and the provider registered it in its own name instead of its client's, without being asked to, for simplicity or convenience. Afnic also mentions the employee who registers the name in their own name, in good faith, and then leaves the company.
Ask yourself who should hold the rights to the domain name, who will be able to decide to sell it, and who will be responsible in case of a dispute. The answer is almost always your business.
How to check who the holder is
For a .fr domain, you can search Afnic's Whois database from its website. One thing to know: if the holder is a private individual, their personal data is not published and appears as “Diffusion Restreinte” (restricted). That is the case, for example, for a sole trader who registered the name in their own name. For other extensions (.com, .net…), the rules depend on the registry concerned and on your registrar, so that is who you should ask.
If the search shows your agency or freelancer as the holder, there is not necessarily any bad intent, but it should be corrected: the holder can transfer the domain name to an eligible person. According to Afnic, the registrar updates the holder's details once it has obtained confirmation from both parties.
Administrative and technical contacts are not owners
When registering a .fr domain, you must also designate an administrative contact and a technical contact. Your provider can legitimately fill one of these roles. That is not a problem, since Afnic states that when the administrative contact is a third party, that contact has no rights over the holder's domain name. What matters is the “holder” line.
Changing provider without losing your address
The holder can change registrar at any time. The procedure described by Afnic relies on an “auth-info” code: the holder obtains it from their current registrar, which must provide it at creation or make it available in a dedicated area, then passes it to the new registrar, which carries out the transfer. Afnic warns that this change is generally charged for and often tied to other services such as hosting, so reread your current registrar's terms before starting.
Renewal, the classic blind spot
A .fr domain is registered for one to ten years. When it expires, Afnic provides a 30-day redemption period during which deletion can still be reversed. After that, the name falls back into the public domain and anyone can register it, on a first come, first served basis. Afnic also points out that a registrar with no contact from you before expiry may request the deletion of the name so as not to pay its fees on your behalf.
This is one reason why it is risky for your domain to be linked to an email address you never check, or to a provider you are no longer in touch with: the renewal notices go to someone else. To reduce the risk of hijacking, Afnic also offers a locking service, “.fr Lock”, available through accredited registrars.
Design and code: copyright decides, not the invoice
This is the least known point. In France, article L111-1 of the Intellectual Property Code states that the author of a work owns it “by the mere fact of its creation”. And it adds a decisive sentence: the existence or conclusion of a contract for work or services by the author of a work does not derogate from that right.
In plain terms: commissioning and paying a provider for a creative work does not automatically transfer the rights to you. And a custom website contains protectable works: the graphic design, and the code itself, since article L112-2 expressly lists “software, including preparatory design material” among protected works.
An assignment must be written, and precise
French law strictly frames how these rights can be transferred to you:
- In writing: contracts transferring copyright must be recorded in writing (article L131-2).
- Right by right: each right assigned must be mentioned separately in the assignment, and the scope of use must be defined as to its extent and purpose, place and duration (article L131-3).
- No blank cheque on the future: a global assignment of future works is void (article L131-1). A clause such as “the client owns everything we will ever create for them” is therefore not enough.
In practice, a solid assignment clause names the rights assigned (reproduction, public display, adaptation and modification, for example), states for which uses (the website, its future versions, possibly other media), where (France, worldwide) and for how long. If your quote or contract says nothing of the kind, the law provides no automatic transfer: what you may do with the site then becomes a matter of interpretation, which is exactly what you want to avoid.
Employees are a different case
There is an often misunderstood exception. Article L113-9 provides that the economic rights in software created by employees in the course of their duties, or following their employer's instructions, vest in the employer. This rule applies between an employer and its employees: it does not apply to an agency or a freelancer you pay by invoice. For them, the contract is what counts.
Moral rights cannot be assigned
Alongside the economic rights, the author keeps moral rights, attached to their person, which are perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible. For software, article L121-7 greatly limits their scope: unless the contract is more favourable to the author, the author cannot object to modifications made by the assignee of the rights as long as they do not harm the author's honour or reputation, and cannot exercise the right of withdrawal. In practice, once the rights have been properly assigned, you can have your site developed further by another provider.
What your provider cannot assign to you
A provider can only assign what it owns. A website almost always includes third-party elements: open-source code libraries, purchased themes or plugins, fonts, icons, stock photos. These remain subject to their own licences, which continue to apply after delivery. It is worth asking for the list of these components and their licences, especially if some are paid and must be renewed.
Content: every element has an author
Texts you wrote yourself and photos you took belong to you, subject to the rights of the people photographed. For the rest, the same logic applies as for the design:
- Texts written by your provider are creative works like any other: their assignment must appear in the contract.
- Photos by a professional photographer belong to the photographer until the rights are assigned to you in writing, with the same requirements for precision.
- Stock images are never “yours”: you hold a licence to use them, whose terms vary from one stock library to another. If your provider bought the licence, check that it covers you after delivery.
- Your logo, if created by a designer, follows the same rule. And as with a domain name, using it does not make it a protected trademark: that is a separate step, with INPI, the French IP office.
Hosting and accounts: ownership is decided when the account is opened
There is no particular legal subtlety here: an account belongs to whoever opened it, and access depends on the email address and password attached to it. Yet this is where the most frequent deadlocks occur when changing provider. Take stock:
- Hosting: whose name is the contract in? Who receives the invoices and alerts?
- Site admin access: do you have an administrator account in your own name, not just an “editor” account?
- Your Google Business Profile: it can have several managers, but you should be its primary owner.
- Google Search Console and your analytics tool: your provider can be invited as a user without being the owner.
- Business email addresses tied to the domain name: who manages the mailbox, and who can delete it?
Good practice is simple: accounts are opened in your name, with an email address you control, and your provider is invited with the permissions it needs. The day you change provider, you simply remove its access.
The checklist before signing a quote
- The domain name will be registered with your business as the holder (not the agency).
- The contract contains a copyright assignment clause covering the design, code and texts created for you, with the rights assigned, the uses, the territory and the duration.
- The timing of the assignment is specified: it often takes effect on full payment. That is legitimate, provided it is written down.
- The provider undertakes to hand over, at the end of the project, admin access, source files and the list of third-party components with their licences.
- Accounts (hosting, Google, analytics) are opened in your name.
- Exit terms are set out: what happens if you change provider, and how quickly you receive the “auth-info” code?
Changing provider: the order to do things in
- Check the Whois for your domain name. If the holder is not your business, ask for the transfer first: it is the cornerstone, since your site and your emails depend on it.
- Reread your contract to see which rights to the design and code were assigned to you.
- Retrieve access and full backups of the site (files and database) before announcing the end of the relationship, if things are tense.
- Ask for the “auth-info” code to transfer the domain to the registrar of your choice.
- Note the expiry dates (domain, hosting, licences) so that nothing lapses during the transition.
Unsure about your current site, or planning a redesign and want to start on the right footing? Let's talk: the first conversation is free.
Sources
- French Intellectual Property Code, article L111-1 (Légifrance, in French)
- French Intellectual Property Code, article L112-2 (Légifrance, in French)
- French Intellectual Property Code, articles L131-1 to L131-3 (Légifrance, in French)
- French Intellectual Property Code, article L113-9 (Légifrance, in French)
- French Intellectual Property Code, article L121-7 (Légifrance, in French)
- Practical guide for .fr domain holders, 2024 (Afnic, in French)
