Any advice on web design theft ?
- Thread starter jamesmorris86
- Start date
So you were employed by them, you have no contract with them specifying who owns the IP and they paid you to make the site for them?
What do you want with the site yourself anyway if it relates to their business? Did you even have a discussion with them and make clear perhaps via e-mail that you believed you would own the IP even though you're making it for them?
It doesn't really make much sense, in fact doesn't even seem unreasonable for them to not bother faffing about and simply copy the work done, which they've already paid you to do and host it themselves.
As already discussed, does that include work you do in your own time (at home) that isn't part of your normal (in work) duties?
Because heck, that could mean ownership of anything you do in your own time that they could argue is related/similar to the job you do for them.
that is where it gets tricky - would be helpful if the OP had a contract or at least had some e-mail/record of what had been discussed - though if he is making it specifically for the employer rather than making it for himself as a side project then I'd assume he'd have a bit of a harder time arguing that it should be his IP without anything else to back up that
I had a contract at a previous employer stating that anything I created outside of work that falls within their business domain they'd have first refusal over and that if I didn't agree the price offered we'd go to an arbitration service.
some other employers want to basically claim ownership of everything - AFAIK google tries to by default though people can apply to the company for permission to carry on with a side project etc..
Soldato
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I know that in accounting terms (in relation to things like payroll), whether a contract is of service or for service is defined by the control that the employee has over the work performed.
In this case, the fact that you were paid separately, did the work in your own time, had control over what tools you used (and had to provide them yourself presumably) all suggest a contract for service.
Those are the sort of things that employment tribunals discuss when payroll disputes arise.
Did you invoice the employer for the website maintenance?
In this case, the fact that you were paid separately, did the work in your own time, had control over what tools you used (and had to provide them yourself presumably) all suggest a contract for service.
Those are the sort of things that employment tribunals discuss when payroll disputes arise.
Did you invoice the employer for the website maintenance?
If you did it in a capacity that benefits your work then it probably doesn't matter. As the Act says if it's done for work purposes then you need a specific opt out.
Ultimately proving that it wasn't done for your employer without that opt out is going to be a nightmare.
Proper legal advise is probably a good idea but again without that written agreement in my opinion you're peeing in the wind.
Not really sure why you are fussed. I would have just moved on and left them the site anyway as in good will, why burn bridges?
In my jobs (software Dev) my contacts invariably say that anything I create with any relation to the company/industry I am working for is their property. Not sure if your contact was the same but I just wouldn't have even considered trying to charge them for it personally.
I'm not saying you are in the wrong, just giving my opinion. Good luck whatever you do man
In my jobs (software Dev) my contacts invariably say that anything I create with any relation to the company/industry I am working for is their property. Not sure if your contact was the same but I just wouldn't have even considered trying to charge them for it personally.
I'm not saying you are in the wrong, just giving my opinion. Good luck whatever you do man
This.
You should have had a contract in place when you did the work if you were concerned about retaining the rights. For a couple hundred quid and ******* off an ex employer it's really not worth the hassle. Write it off as experience.