[Phpwm] Intellectual Property Agreements

[Bronwen Reid]

Alex Mace wrote:
> In terms of solictors, at my previous employers we used to use Rickerby's in
> Cheltenham - they seemed pretty hot on IP, plus the guy there who dealt with
> IP was one of those kids on Jim'll Fix It who ate their food on a roller
> coaster. They provided us with a spec contract for £600 which covered all
> points of IP and basically said that you grant them a license to use your
> software, but you retain all IP for it. That nicely covers you from them
> creating new works based on your work.
>   
This is interesting.
What happens if the client, for whatever reason, wants to part ways with 
their web developer and get someone else in to continue work on that 
application / site?

At a previous company we once got a very nice job where the client said 
"We can no longer work with our current web developer, but they host our 
site and own all the code.  Please redevelop this site, with all its 
functionality, from scratch."

BTW, I take the view that if they want to do this, and get someone else 
in to continue developing code I wrote, then yes, something has gone 
badly wrong but I'm not going to try holding anyone hostage.

> I think it depends on what grounds you did the work at the moment - if you
> did it as an employee of theirs then they own the work. Otherwise as Dave
> says, I believe you own it.
>
> There was also some good stuff on IP in the discussion part of episode 15 of
> the .net podcast - http://www.netmag.co.uk/zine/podcast
>   
Will have a look at this.  Thank you

Bronwen