Ownership

[Doyley]

Hi all,

 

Can anybody help me out with the legalities of PHP software?

 

I have been paid for the last year or so to develop a site by a company.  This site is hosted on another companies server.  Who owns this site?  Do I own it, the company that paid me or the company hosting the software?  I doubt it's the later but I just want to make sure.

 

Thanks!

[per1os]

It all depends on the contract. If the company PAID you to create the site and you gave them full disclosure in the document technically they own it. However if the contract was worded in such that you maintain all legal authority over the content you created for them, you may own the script, but since they paid you for the service to create it techincally they own whats on their server.

 

Now as to the server hosting, it depends on how that contract is worded. The company hosting may have it stated that they own all content on their server and can deny access to that content at any time. In that case they "own" the files, but not necessarily the script.

 

Either way unless specifically noted by the company that they maintain full control of the script and all the code and consider it proprietary information it is your script, they just paid you to create it for them.

 

Hope that helps.

 

But I am not a lawyer, just stating what would make sense to me, may not make sense legally which is ultimately what counts.

[taith]

agreed... if contract doesnt state it, they pay you to make the script, not buying the script off you...

[flappy_warbucks]

I would say that they own the script.

 

if you made it for yourself then you own it.

 

I make PHP sites ona  daily basis for the company i owork for, and everythign i do i consider it to be their scripts even tho i made it.

 

if on the other hadn u used a script that you made for another personal project and used it in that script then i shoudl think it still belongs to you...

 

that side of things i am not to sure on, i am only assuming... but thats the rules i go on...

[Doyley]

Thanks for your replies.

 

We do not have a written contract.  They pay me in advance on the work I do fortnightly.

 

I am not trying to claim the script is mine.  They are worried that the people that rent the server are going to steal the coding and use it for themselves.

 

Obviously, the coding will change from one script to another but my style of coding will remain more or less constant so several scripts may look the same so I wasn't too sure of the legalities there.

[per1os]

If the script is copyrighted, the people on the server cannot legally use it or distribute it without paying the fees. If they do it is considered piracy. They can keep the data for all they want but by right they do not own the copyright to that script and thus cannot do anything with it. As long as the script is copywritten.

[MadTechie]

OK basically with software.. the company who employed you to write the software should of got you to sign a document that basically signs over any rights to the software is theirs any theirs alone..

 

if they paid you for writting the software and not for employment then it really depends on the project spec.. (again unless you signed it over to them)

for example if i was asked

can you write me a program to manage my stock

then when i finished the software legally I own the software and he owns a licence..

its all about IPR,

 

If he gave a very detailed brief including how the whole system should work.. then they own the IPR..

 

 

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), very broadly, are rights granted to creators and owners of works that are results of human intellectual creativity. These works can be in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic domain. It can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a suite of software, or a business name.

 

In general, the objective of IPR is to protect the right of a copyright author in his work and at the same time allow the general public to access his creativity. IPR maintains this balance by putting in place time-limits on the author’s means of controlling a particular work. The law that regulates the creation, use and control of the protected work is popularly known as Intellectual Property Law (IP).

[MadTechie]

As a side note.. if your truely worried..

 

check out these

 

ioncube

zend

 

i can't say much about them as they are a little bit costly at the moment but i will probably be getting one of them

[Doyley]

Thanks for the information guys, it's been really helpful!