It’s important to understand both why you want to retain ownership and why the company wants to have ownership. It’s entirely possible that there’s some arrang

It’s important to understand both why you want to retain ownership and why the company wants to have ownership. It’s entirely possible that there’s some arrangement that satisfies everyone’s needs. For example, you may be able to get them to agree that it will remain open-source in perpetuity and that your name remains prominently attached to it for as long as you feel comfortable with the project’s direction, but no longer. I’ll also second all of the suggestions to talk with a lawyer, not to go on the attack but to verify that whatever agreement you come to actually gives you the rights that you think it does— as you’ve discovered, small clauses in contracts can have big, unexpected effects.