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Depends on the contract you had with party - it all comes down to who owns the IP. If they own it, you cant sell it unless you have their permission. Even if t

by Mamady 16y ago

Depends on the contract you had with party - it all comes down to who owns the IP. If they own it, you cant sell it unless you have their permission. Even if they own it, you can contact them and ask if they mind you selling a modified version of it.

bherms 16y ago
We didn't cover that in the contract unfortunately. I would assume we own the IP. Either way, whether I own it or not, I didn't know if it might cause problems if I rebuilt it to be more general and then charged a small fee to use it when they paid me a lot of money to build it originally.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  Do you have a good relationship with the client? The best thing to do would be to call them up and ask.
  - bherms 16y ago
    Yeah definitely. They're taking me out to eat and for beers Thursday to celebrate the first event managed with my software :) I'll bring it up then and see what they have to say. Because I'm planning on redoing a lot of the code and adding some features, I was planning on giving them the new improved version for free. They win either way, they just had to pay more up front.
  - bradleyland 16y ago
    I couldn't disagree with this more. Never call someone up and ask them what your rights are with respect to intellectual property. How do you think the client is going to view it? Many clients assume ownership of intellectual property, simply because they don't understand it. By calling them and asking them, you're transferring the judgement to them. Consider that many people view code like they do any thing else they buy. If I pay someone to construct a building for me, I assume that I own the building when it is completed. But do I own the rights to the design (plans) for the building? This question is far less clear unless defined in a contract. Rather, a better strategy would be to talk to a legal professional who understands the law in this area. Because the contract did not spell out who will "own" the code, he (the author) must gain an understanding of the legal perspective in these situations before he squanders his opportunity to reuse the code. Even if the conversation with the client resulted in their agreement that the bherms can do whatever he likes with the code, that doesn't clear up the legal issue. What happens a few years from now when this charity is under different leadership and they notice the similarity between their management system and the one that sells for $30/month from whatever business bherms starts? Talk to someone who knows these answers before you proceed. Nothing is worse than putting years of effort in to something, only to have it dismantled by something from your past that you could have taken care of easily.

by Mamady 16y ago

bherms 16y ago

We didn't cover that in the contract unfortunately. I would assume we own the IP. Either way, whether I own it or not, I didn't know if it might cause problems if I rebuilt it to be more general and then charged a small fee to use it when they paid me a lot of money to build it originally.

thaumaturgy 16y ago
Do you have a good relationship with the client? The best thing to do would be to call them up and ask.
- bherms 16y ago
  Yeah definitely. They're taking me out to eat and for beers Thursday to celebrate the first event managed with my software :) I'll bring it up then and see what they have to say. Because I'm planning on redoing a lot of the code and adding some features, I was planning on giving them the new improved version for free. They win either way, they just had to pay more up front.
- bradleyland 16y ago
  I couldn't disagree with this more. Never call someone up and ask them what your rights are with respect to intellectual property. How do you think the client is going to view it? Many clients assume ownership of intellectual property, simply because they don't understand it. By calling them and asking them, you're transferring the judgement to them. Consider that many people view code like they do any thing else they buy. If I pay someone to construct a building for me, I assume that I own the building when it is completed. But do I own the rights to the design (plans) for the building? This question is far less clear unless defined in a contract. Rather, a better strategy would be to talk to a legal professional who understands the law in this area. Because the contract did not spell out who will "own" the code, he (the author) must gain an understanding of the legal perspective in these situations before he squanders his opportunity to reuse the code. Even if the conversation with the client resulted in their agreement that the bherms can do whatever he likes with the code, that doesn't clear up the legal issue. What happens a few years from now when this charity is under different leadership and they notice the similarity between their management system and the one that sells for $30/month from whatever business bherms starts? Talk to someone who knows these answers before you proceed. Nothing is worse than putting years of effort in to something, only to have it dismantled by something from your past that you could have taken care of easily.