Oral contracts are only binding if you can prove it happened, and even then not always. In the absence of a detailed written contract on the IP, the OP still ow

Oral contracts are only binding if you can prove it happened, and even then not always. In the absence of a detailed written contract on the IP, the OP still owns it. Personally, I'd have probably let it roll a little longer and used that for leverage to get what was promised, but I don't blame him for walking away. It's a pretty good bet he figured out what the original tech guy already knew.