A Site I built for a former employer...

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by wwstewart, Aug 23, 2008.

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  1. #1
    About 7 years ago, I built a site for my boss. He owned the domain, paid for the hosting and paid me to build it.

    The site has long since been off the net, and I'm not sure who owns the domain, but it's parked.

    I know for a fact this site is not in use. We did not file for any kind of copyrights on the site or anything.

    And I have the site backed up on CD.

    I'm wondering if anybody knows if it would be legal for me to set this site back up, as it got some pretty decent traffic and I have some great ideas for monetizing it (which is something we didn't do in the first place...but should have).

    Opinions?
     
    wwstewart, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  2. alexisarticles

    alexisarticles Peon

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    #2
    Why not ask your old boss (if you left his employ under good terms) if you can use the site? Then you will know for sure it's okay instead of worrying about legal issues that might crop up in the future.
     
    alexisarticles, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  3. alemcherry

    alemcherry Guest

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    #3
    That would be illegal and immoral. What you did for the employer is his property, not yours. Period.
     
    alemcherry, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  4. wwstewart

    wwstewart Well-Known Member

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    #4
    I doubt he'd be OK with it. I'm just wondering if it would be legal to do it. If so, then I may try to contact him about it. I'm not sure he's practicing in the same town, and I live about 300 miles from him, and haven't spoke with him since I left his employ.
     
    wwstewart, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  5. wwstewart

    wwstewart Well-Known Member

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    #5
    I signed no agreements saying that what I did was his property. Yes, I was his paid hourly employee. Again, I designed, built, edited, and maintained the site, and beyond that, there was no other legal issues with it (pertaining to who owned the copyright).

    I'm going to read the fine print on the site again, just to make sure we didn't use anyone's name.

    That is one thing about it, we used neither a company name or his/my name on the site. It was pretty much anonymous.


    Nevermind. A quick search of the forums answered my question. Thanks, everyone.
     
    wwstewart, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  6. campolar

    campolar Peon

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    #6
    may we know wat ur answer was?
     
    campolar, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  7. wwstewart

    wwstewart Well-Known Member

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    #7
    Sure. I should have known, since I've read up on copyright.

    Anything recorded in any media form is copyright protected. I don't know why I was thinking that it wouldn't be. True, it's not a registered copyright, but still, I'm not going to do it.

    Even though I built the thing...heh.
     
    wwstewart, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  8. deniseG

    deniseG Peon

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    #8
    He's sue you and WIN! You created it while you worked for him, you were paid by him, it belongs to him. If you don't think so speak with a cw attorney and they will tell you the same thing. If your sued, prepare to cough up allot of money, and if you have no assets now, think about down the line when you might have some. Judgments are usually good for at least 10 years and renewable.
     
    deniseG, Aug 24, 2008 IP