intellectual property? - website code

CaNsA

CaNsA

CaNsA

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Joined
7 Jan 2012
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Liverpool
Long story short,

Back in 2009 I charged a company a fair amount for the:-
"Domain Registration, 12months hosting, Design and creation of Company website."
Thats the only paperwork there is, it was on the invoice I sent them.

The company have moved to another web-designer.
I have released control of the domain name as that belongs to them.
The web-designer has asked me to release all the website code and images.

I am happy to release the images as they were provided to me by the company.
Do i have to release the code?
Is it mine to keep as my own intellectual property?

Cheers peeps.
 
Do you not think after them paying you a fair amount for a website that it's rather unfair to now not allow them to use it?

If it's just a bog standard website, I don't see why you would want to now not allow them have their website they paid for?

Were the company told they would be "renting" a website from you when they spent the money?
 
Then I suppose it depends if theres anything code wise that you don't want to share to others, if not, I most probably wouldn't mind too much giving it up.

When I sell a website, I sell it as a "product", so the website belongs to them completly and are free to move it away if they wish.

I feel like if they buy a website off me, they should own it, non of this renting business so you are locked in.
 
Hutchy said:
Do you not think after them paying you a fair amount for a website that it's rather unfair to now not allow them to use it?

If it's just a bog standard website, I don't see why you would want to now not allow them have their website they paid for?

Were the company told they would be "renting" a website from you when they spent the money?
Click to expand...

To play devils advocate here, we don't know the details of the OP's situation.

I had a site 2 years ago that I put a lot of work and effort into but the client was a nightmare to deal with especially for paying his bills. His site was up online for over 12 months and was doing well in SERPS terms which in turn increased his business turnover tenfold within months. He did however, see fit to hold back payment for work done by me for over a year, citing every excuse under the sun. Eventually I got so frustrated with it all that I informed him his site would be taken offline until due payment was made. Never heard from him for days until the next thing I know a new web designer contacts me to inform me that he would be taking over the running of the website and he needed the domain transferred to him and the entire website, database and all associated code, images etc handed over to him.

Well, that plainly wasn't going to happen until I was paid what I was still due, which never materialised so the only thing I handed over was the domain. I wrote off the money owed to me and put it down to a bad experience - lesson since learned. I've since heard that the guy concerned has done exactly the same to this "new" web designer and the poor bugger is also chasing him for payment, just like I was.

Anyway, apolgies for the long post, just wanted to emphasise the fact that sometimes things aren't as clear cut as they seem at first. :cool:
 
Good point.

The client did pay me on time.
But on the other hand they have hosted the site on my server free of charge for the past 2yrs. I done this out of the goodness of my heart cos I'm a nice guy and all that jazz.

Another reason why I am reluctant is some of the code is from my personal "code library". I would remove the code before releasing the site but there is far to much for me to go through.
 
CaNsA said:
Good point.

The client did pay me on time.
But on the other hand they have hosted the site on my server free of charge for the past 2yrs. I done this out of the goodness of my heart cos I'm a nice guy and all that jazz.

Another reason why I am reluctant is some of the code is from my personal "code library". I would remove the code before releasing the site but there is far to much for me to go through.
Click to expand...

You hosting free of charge is a poor business decision on your part, not the fault of the client.

And while you don't have any legal reason to hand over the site code, it would be the right thing to do. The fact that nothing was mentioned in regards to who actually retains ownership of the code shows a lack of experience on both sides. (Not trying to be offensive, but this is basic stuff that should have been covered in the contract that should have been agreed upon before any work was started)

Without me knowing what type of website it is, would it not be possible to, at the very least, just hand over a plain html version of it, or at least whatever can be sent over as plain html? (hhtrack can create an html copy of near any site)
 
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Agreed, although there does come a point where pursuing a non paying client becomes uneconomical. In the case I cited, the individual concerned stayed abroad so short of booking a flight over to Cyprus and knocking on his door, I didn't really have many options. Luckily it wasn't a huge amount of cash concerned. Still annoying nonetheless.
 
As people have said, you should have clearly detailed in the contract upon starting the project, whether or not the rights were being sold too.
 
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