In New Zealand, a business that commissions and pays for a website's code or photographs is normally the first owner of the copyright in them, unless its agreement with the designer says otherwise. The words on the site belong to whoever wrote them. And the domain name belongs to whoever is listed as its registrant, which should be you and often is not. Most ownership disputes come from those three things being assumed rather than written down. This guide explains each layer of a website, what the law and the .nz rules say, what our own terms say (we are a web designer, so read that part with that in mind), and a checklist to run before you sign with anyone. It is general information, not legal advice; for a specific contract, ask a lawyer.
What does "owning a website" actually mean?
A website is not one thing. It is a stack of separately owned parts, and you can own some while renting the rest:
- The domain name (yourbusiness.co.nz), which is registered, not owned outright, and is controlled by its registrant.
- The content: the words, photos, videos and logo.
- The code and design: the templates, components and styling that turn content into pages.
- The platform it runs on, such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or Shopify, which nobody but the platform company owns.
- The accounts around it: hosting, Google Business Profile, Google Analytics, Search Console, social pages and email.
- The data: enquiries, bookings and customer details the site collects.
When someone asks "do I own my website?", the useful answer is layer by layer.
Who owns the domain name?
Whoever is listed as the registrant. The Domain Name Commission, which oversees .nz, puts it plainly in its guide to managing a domain: the registrant is "the party that is responsible for the domain name's registration information being up to date, as well as having control over the domain name." Its first tip is to make sure your name, or your company name, is the registrant. If the registrant shown is your web developer or your registrar, it says, "you will need to contact your registrar to get this transferred to the correct individual / organisation."
This goes wrong often enough that the Commission says it receives "numerous requests from entities that claim to be the owner of the domain, but the domain is instead showing a different registrant (such as a previous staff member, or another provider of the part enquiring)." A designer who registered your domain in their own account years ago, a staff member who has since left, an agency that has closed: each one can leave your website and email hostage to a login you do not hold.
Three facts from the Commission's guides are worth knowing:
- Transfers need an authorisation code. Moving a .nz domain between registrars uses a 16-character authorisation code (UDAI), single use, valid for 30 days, and registrars "are unlikely to provide the Authorisation Code to any other party other than the registrant." If you are not the registrant, you cannot get the key.
- Changing the holder needs the current holder's agreement. The change of registrant process starts by asking the current registrant to transfer it. If they refuse, the Commission runs a Dispute Resolution Service, and if the domain is registered to a company that no longer exists you contact the Commission directly.
- Lapsed domains are recoverable, briefly. An expired .nz domain enters a 90-day redemption period before it is released to the public. The Commission recommends auto-renewal and warns that reinstating a domain "may be expensive."
Our position: your domain is yours, held in your own registrar account, and it is not part of our monthly plan. We never take ownership of a client's domain. If you cancel, it simply stops pointing at our servers. Our guide to .nz domain names covers registering one properly.
Who owns the words, photos and logo?
Copyright in New Zealand is governed by the Copyright Act 1994, section 21, which sets out who the first owner of a work is. The default in section 21(1) is that "the person who is the author of a work is the first owner of any copyright in the work." Two exceptions matter for websites.
The first is employment: under section 21(2), a work made by an employee in the course of their employment belongs to the employer. If your own staff write the copy and take the photos, the business owns them.
The second is the commissioning rule in section 21(3). Where a person "commissions, and pays or agrees to pay for, the taking of a photograph or the making of a computer program, painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart, plan, engraving, model, sculpture, film, or sound recording" and the work is made under that commission, "that person is the first owner of any copyright in the work." In plain terms:
- Photos and video you commissioned and paid for are yours by default. A photographer who wants to keep copyright has to say so in the agreement.
- A logo drawn for you is, in most cases, a commissioned drawing, so the same rule applies. Check the designer's terms anyway; logo designers often license rather than assign.
- Website text is different. Words are a literary work, and literary works are not in the section 21(3) list. Copy written for you by a freelancer or an agency belongs to its author unless the contract assigns it to you. If you are paying for copywriting, get the assignment in writing.
- Stock photos are licensed, never owned. Whoever bought the licence holds it, on the terms of the stock library. Ask whether a licence bought by your designer covers you after you part ways.
Section 21(4) is the clause that matters most: subsections (2) and (3) "apply subject to any agreement to the contrary." The statutory defaults are only defaults. The contract wins.
Who owns the website code and design?
Under the commissioning rule, a "computer program" is on the list, so the default for a custom-coded website you commissioned and paid for is that the copyright is yours. In practice, three things change that picture.
Most designers' terms say otherwise. Because of section 21(4), a clause in the terms of service that keeps the code with the designer, or licenses it to you, is effective. Read the intellectual property section of any proposal before you sign, not after.
Platforms are never yours. A site built on Wix, Squarespace or Shopify runs on that company's software under its licence. You cannot take the site to another host; you can only export some content. A WordPress site uses an open-source core plus themes and plugins that are each licensed by their authors. In both cases, "do I own the code" matters less than "can I take this and run it somewhere else."
Ownership without the files is worthless. Owning copyright in code you have never been given a copy of does not get your site back online. The practical question is what you receive on exit: the files, a content export, or nothing.
Now our own terms, stated plainly because it would be odd to write this article and skip them. Under section 5 of our terms of service, you keep full ownership of everything you supply: copy, images, logo and business information. The website code, templates, design system and hosting infrastructure remain the property of VATS LIMITED, the company behind Go Digital, and are licensed to you as part of the hosted service. On cancellation, section 4.3 says we return all original content you supplied, your domain stays under your control, and there is no exit fee. That is the honest trade-off of a subscription with $0 upfront: you get a custom build without paying for it up front, and the build itself stays with us. It is the reverse of the statutory default for a paid custom build, which is exactly why we spell it out on our straight answers page rather than leaving you to find it in the terms.
Who owns the hosting, Google and analytics accounts?
These are the accounts people forget until a designer disappears. Each should be in your name, with the designer given access rather than ownership:
- Google Business Profile. You should be the primary owner of the listing; a designer or agency should be added as a manager. Google's help page on owners and managers explains the roles. If an agency is the owner, your reviews and map listing are in their hands.
- Google Analytics and Search Console. Create the property under your own Google account and grant the designer access. History and data stay with you.
- Hosting. If hosting is separate from your designer, the account, the invoices and the backups should be yours. If hosting is bundled, as it is with us, be clear about what you receive on exit.
- Social pages and email. Same principle. Admin rights sit with the business owner.
- Enquiry data. Form submissions, bookings and chatbot transcripts are personal information about your customers. They should be delivered to an inbox you control, not stored only in a designer's system.
What should the contract say?
Before you sign with any web designer, including us, the agreement should answer these in writing:
- Who is the registrant of the domain? (You.)
- Who owns the copy, photos and logo, and is the copywriting assigned to you?
- Who owns the code and design: assigned to you, or licensed? What exactly is delivered on exit, and in what format?
- Who owns the hosting, analytics, Business Profile and other accounts?
- Are there exit, transfer or cancellation fees?
- May the designer show your site in their portfolio? (Ours may, unless you ask us not to, under section 5.3.)
- What happens to your data when the relationship ends?
Our guide to choosing a web designer in NZ puts these questions in the order to ask them.
How do you check what you own right now?
- Look up your domain on the Domain Name Commission's WHOIS search and read the registrant field. If it is not you or your company, start the change of registrant process today.
- Find the registrar login. If nobody in the business has it, ask your registrar to recover access using the registrant's details.
- Open Google Business Profile and check who the owners and managers are.
- Check Analytics and Search Console access lists for the same thing.
- Read the intellectual property clause in whatever agreement you signed. If there was no written agreement, the Copyright Act defaults above apply, and you should ask your designer to confirm the position in writing.
- Ask for a copy of your content. A designer who cannot or will not give you your own photos and text is telling you something.
Do this today
- Run a WHOIS lookup on your domain and confirm the registrant is your business
- Turn on auto-renewal and put the registrar login somewhere two people can find it
- List every account your website depends on and who holds the admin rights
- Find the ownership clause in your current agreement, or email your designer asking for the position in writing
- Save a copy of your own text and photos somewhere you control
Where we come in
We built our model to make the answer to every question above short. Your domain is yours and stays in your account. Your content is yours and comes back to you if you leave. The code stays with us and is licensed to you as part of a hosted service, with no exit fee and no minimum term; that is published on our straight answers page, in our terms and in our machine-readable pricing file so that anyone, including an AI assistant doing your due diligence, can check it. If your current site's ownership is a mess, the free website audit is a sensible first step, and a conversation with us costs nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns a website built by a web designer in NZ?
It depends on the layer and the contract. Under section 21 of the Copyright Act 1994, a business that commissions and pays for a computer program or photographs is the first owner of the copyright unless the agreement says otherwise, while website text belongs to its author unless assigned. The domain belongs to its registrant. Most designers' terms modify these defaults, so the written agreement decides.
Who owns my domain name if my web designer registered it?
Whoever is listed as the registrant on the registration record. If that is the designer, the Domain Name Commission's guidance is to ask the registrar to transfer the registration to you, which needs the current registrant's agreement. If they refuse, the Commission offers a Dispute Resolution Service. Check the record with a WHOIS lookup before assuming anything.
Can I take my website with me if I change web designers?
Only if the agreement gives you the files or an export, and only if the site is not locked to a platform such as Wix or Squarespace, which cannot be moved to another host. Your domain can always be pointed elsewhere if you are the registrant. Ask any designer, before signing, exactly what you receive on exit and in what format.
Who owns the copyright in my website's text?
The person who wrote it, unless they wrote it as your employee or the contract assigns it to you. Literary works are not covered by the commissioning rule in section 21(3) of the Copyright Act, so paying a freelance copywriter does not automatically make you the owner. Get an assignment of copyright in writing when you pay for copy.
What happens to my website if I stop paying Go Digital?
The subscription runs to the end of the billing period, then the site goes offline and the domain stops pointing at Go Digital's servers. Go Digital returns all original content, images and copy the client supplied, the domain stays in the client's own registrar account, and there is no exit or cancellation fee. The site code is not transferred, so a new provider rebuilds around the returned content and the domain.
The bottom line
Own your domain, own your content, know exactly what you get on exit, and get all three in writing before anyone starts building. The law gives you sensible defaults; the contract can change every one of them, so read it. If you want to compare what we have written into ours, it is all public, and we are happy to talk it through.