Comments on: At What Point Does Your Work Belong to the Client?

By: Robert Vining

Robert Vining — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:50:45 +0000

Well, this actually turned out for the best, everyone got paid, the person in question and I communicate civilly since the site went live and all is well. The site is hosted on my server still, and is the largest site I have completed to date.

By: Marcos

Marcos — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:14:01 +0000

Same here, 50% upfront 25% halfway and 25% before moving the site live.
Now, that’s on paper, I usually have to wait days, weeks or even months to have the 25 and 25… As we work with a lot of gov sites and not for profit, those clients sometimes consider us a … bank (duh). As they have their salary payed every month, they don’t get it that their payment is our salary, strange.

That said, I always keep control of the server (our own dedicated) and whilst the domain name is always registered to the client, we also keep it under our hood (admin, tech), not much but at least some ways to protect ourselves.

By: Peter Russell

Peter Russell — Sat, 08 May 2010 00:14:43 +0000

I had a similar experience with a government department. Fortunately I had a strong contract that ensured timely payment whether they had met the deadlines or not. Nowdays I’ll only take on a big job with 50 per cent up front.

By: Tomm

Tomm — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:52:25 +0000

I know just how you feel having your work stolen. Its crazy what some people do.

By: Cristina

Cristina — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:03:04 +0000

Yes, I actually just had a similar situation just this week. Almost identical, and the “redesign” looks like dogsh*t. I am actually in a good position because this genius abandoned his domain name which has very good rankings. I will be turning it into a blog than pulls RSS feeds with some advertising. In the end this clients new site looks terrible and a few months down the line, he will realize he was on the losing end of his decision.

It has definitely made me rethink my contract and how I will work with clients in the future. I am change my 50% up front, 50% upon completion to 50-25-25. I wil also be making more clear than any work design or coding wise is owned by me until payment is made in full.

By: mustaq

mustaq — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:19:50 +0000

That’s great, Robert. As long as this was agreed to, you are protected, just a schlep to fight for something that you are legally entitled to.

By: Robert Vining

Robert Vining — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:08:16 +0000

That’s a good point Mustaq, my wording is much simpler regarding the copyright of the work. Mine simply says that Copyright of the work belongs to you upon completion. While I still might have a case, which I believe this will end amicably due to the nature of the client, I still need to keep myself protected against things like this with proper wording in my contract.

By: mustaq

mustaq — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:00:06 +0000

That’s a downright dirty move that’s been pulled on you for sure. Agreement or not, it’s downright unethical. I always include in my TOS, something along the lines of;

[i]Copyright.
Copyright to the finished web design site produced by YOUR BUSINESS NAME will be owned by YOUR BUSINESS NAME until final payment under this agreement and any additional charges incurred have been paid. Rights to photos, graphics, source code, work-up files, and computer programs specifically are not transferred to the Client, and remain the property of their respective owners.[/i]

I do this for any project ( Big or Small ) just to be on the safe side.