Re: FN-FORUM Rights of a site

date posted 1st March 2002 11:55

At 09:51 01/03/02 +0000, you wrote:
>We've recently turned off a site due to non payment and inspite of our
>offers of good will to clear up the debt the client has still not offered
>anything in return. Unfortunately the contract is a bit of rubbish drawn up
>by a complete fool and does not say anything about the digital rights of the
>site artwork and files. It does go on about the database which is part of
>the site and the licencing of the data and does state clearly that this
>cannot be altered, copied, redistributed etc by the client but nothing about
>the appearance or interface.

I looked into this for my book, Small Business Websites That Work. I was
told that there is copyright in both the appearance of the site and the way
it's coded. I don't think the copyright transfers unless it's in the
contract. There's nothing to stop them getting someone else to copy your
design (or even download and adapt it) unless you're prepared to take legal
action. Unless they owe you an awful lot of money (or a little amount you
can take to the small claims court), I'm guessing you don't particularly
want to do this.

>Who has the rights on the files?
>They've approached a third party to host the files and want them, I've
>offered them with a release fee and they are contesting that fee.
>Considering they breached the contract by non payment don't I have the
>rights to tell them to stick it?
>Anybody have any words of advice on this...

The practical issue here is that if they really do owe you money (and this
is uncontestable), you've got nothing to lose by denying them the files:
they can't sue you if they're in the wrong. If they're leaving because of a
problem, or a perceived problem, in dealing with you, it gets more difficult.

It will cause problems if your fee is packaged as a fee for releasing the
work that they've commissioned you to do. It makes more sense to clarify
that you're looking for settlement of debts before you'll release the
goods. If it looks like extra fees that weren't in the contract, this might
be interpreted by some to be unfair trading restriction.

There's a point at which the work chasing bad debt stops being worth the
hassle and your time is better spent creatively generating new business.
It's worth knowing this point at the outset and evaluating whether it's
worth your hassle to chase however much money it is. You either need to
pursue it to resolution without stopping, or just let it drop early.

Sean


---
Sean McManus - www.sean.co.uk
Author of 'Small Business Websites That Work' - www.sbwtw.com
Co-author of 'Quick Answers to Web Marketing Questions'