The first element that comes to mind is of course the front end of the website that can be viewed by the public, clients, customers etc, in addition there is the domain name, software, source codes, information displayed on the site itself, database, the list goes on.
I was contacted recently by a new client who had contracted with a website designer to build a website for his company. He entered into the standard terms and conditions of the developer without paying too much attention , going on the assumption that as the website was his idea and he was paying someone to build it for him then surely it would belong to him.
However, some websites are much more complex and can still require a significant amount of bespoke coding. Unfortunately for my client the agreement clearly stated that all intellectual property rights to the software, source code and design of site belonged to the developer who then granted a non exclusive licence to my client for use of this.
Not much good to him when he wanted to sell the website but was unable to do so without the approval of the developer, nor could he make changes without the developers permission and perhaps worst of all, there was nothing in the agreement to prevent the developer from selling the underlying site to a business competitor of my client who could then set up a similar site using code which my client had paid to have developed.
In respect of software, this can be protected by copyright, however because the software can be tied up with all of the other elements mentioned above, copyright can be a tricky issue. Generally the two most valuable Intellectual Property Rights IPRs connected to a website are copyright and database rights.
On the other hand, any elements downloaded from the internet are already in the public domain, assuming that such elements do not contain copyright restrictions. If any of these elements have been created by you, such as your logo, your photo, animations, etc.
However, you should keep in mind that any actual photographs you provide may actually be owned by the photographer that took those photos. Unless you have ownership rights through some contractual arrangement when any photos or images were created for you, the photographer would likely own those images. Another distinct element is the text contained on your website.
Obviously, if that has been created by you, you own the copyright to the text. But, it is not simply the text that appears visually on the screen. If your website designer created that coding, then the coding, as distinguished from the text itself, may be owned by the designer. Similarly, the manner in which the website designer has set up the hyper linking on your site may be owned by the designer.
The bottom line is that you may own the text, but the designer may own the way the text is configured and coded on your website. Again, the key is to obtain a written website development agreement transferring all of these rights to you or your business. Otherwise, it may not be clear who owns your website! Your website development agreement should make it clear that your web designer must create or obtain a valid license for your business to use all third-party materials, including photos, graphics, and other images.
I cannot stress the importance of this precautionary measure. This should be clearly stated in your Website Development agreement without exception. I have read my fair share of letters demanding that my clients immediately take down certain images used on their websites.
You own the content but not the software. Web developers often reuse their own code as well as third-party solutions. The benefit to you is that you get solutions that have been tested and can be deployed faster and cheaper.
The flip side of this coin is that no single customer can claim ownership of these solutions. However, it gets very complicated with any code that has been written prior to your project by the web developer proprietary code as well as any open-source code covered by the GNU General Public License. I can tell you from experience that I most cases it is impossible to distinguish between code that was custom written versus proprietary. After your website is created, you are given a license to use it—unless the designer states otherwise in the fine print of your contract.
Have your legal counsel review your website contract and help inform you of your specific rights. You should see one of three entries:. If it looks more like a John Grisham novel than a website contract, I recommend you shell out the extra cash to have a lawyer de-jargon it for you. These are all marketing pitches that prey on your savvy money-saving skills.
You will most likely have to pay a fee if you want to cancel. Rule of thumb— no website is free. If a marketing pitch seems too good to be true, it usually is. A proprietary website platform was created by and is owned by a marketing or software company.
Read those words. Ownership Condition Date. Typically, contracts that include this verbiage charge you an arm and a leg for canceling before that condition date is up.
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