As hopefully you are all web designers plying your trade everyday I'm hoping someone can help. When I had my site designed, no formal contract was signed and no mention was made of who owned the design. I am therefore assuming it is the web designer and not me, and I just own the content I have entered on the site, is that true? (we are both UK based) Assuming I am right. my designer is also my webmaster and I want to change. How much do you think it is reasonable for the Designer to charge me for total ownership of the site? I paid about £1200 for the site about 4 years ago, but he has updated and added features during that time without actually charging me directly (he's found other ways to extract more money from me) Would be great if you could offer some advice
um .. if you pay for a design .. it's yours. It's like a new house or a car .. once you pay for it, you can do anything you want with it and to it if you so desire. Go ahead and change .. you paid for the site design .. it's yours. Webmasters are a dime a dozen these days, so be as selective as you can be when choosing another one. If you've been charged money for .. um .. other things, over a period of 4 years, I'd say that your webmaster has already had his payday. nuff said .. It's your site .. design, content, scripting .. the whole shot.
Legally, if no deal is made when a website is designed, then it is assumed that the designer is the owner. That's why it's always good to work that type of thing out ahead of time.
If you are from same country, get proper documents like NDA ,etc. signed, if you are hiring a freelance web designer from some other country , ask them to sign the form , either scan it and email it to you, or else fax the documents. It is always better to get into an agreement , so that both freelance service provider and freelance service buyer plays fair .
In a designer based in the uk and the general rule of thumb is if i design something for a client and they pay me for it, then they own whatever it is i designed. Be it a logo / brochure or website. Now as far as the code goes i'm not 100% sure. TBH i doubt very much your designer would want to take you to court if you parted company and used another designer.
You are the owner of the design to some extent, what you can't say is you designed, or try to resell it etc...You can change it around colors/graphics etc... for the company the design was originally for...What you are not the owner of is the master files created to make the design. All professional designers/companies keep master files so the client will come back for updates, more work etc... Now if their was not an agreement on the master files, you could fight that in court, it's just a rule of thumb that master files are kept with the creator. but as far as the design you own it. No judge in the world, if it got to that point would rule in favor of the designer for the design. It would be ludicrous. As far as master files they could say you paid for a design, not the master files which is true. In my professional opinion master files are more valuable then the design. It is a urban legend that people don't think they own the design. It is because some designers have an ego and hate it when clients change their work, and they potentially have to take that project off their portfolio because it is not really their work anymore, or the client made it look awful....Why else would they not want the client to change their work? exactly! Your fine. Change whatever you want. Make it all pink if you wish. The designer can't do anything unless you try to sell it, say it's your design, or make another company with it, and change it for that company. At worst he will charge you for the master files if you don't have them and ask for them. Next design it would be best you request the master files upon completion before you pay. If they don't say anything about charging you for the master files. Have them send you an invoice with the design, and an entry for master files with $0.00 for cost. It's better to be safe and not sorry.
There's no contract and no legal recourse.. too small of a deal to be taken this way. I do believe you own the design and can do whatever you like with it. But I would do what you personally feel is right. If he has given you free updates and professional work then why fire him? If you think he should be compensated for his extra work then offer something to him
Luckely we dont run into problems with this but legally the produced image material is what the customer payed for unless his trading conditions or sales agreement shows otherwise. So the image files which ended up on your website are considered purchased material. The original design (masterfiles) which often contains more layers of material and information are owned by the designer. I would surely contact him to see what he charges for the changes or the masterfiles. It cant hurt and probably benefits your next design step.
If you need to just do your best to download all of the source files and images on the site. Then up them on an other server. If you are paying for your hosting space and domain name then you can probably change the psswds and kick him off, then pass them on to someone who suits you more.