Hi all, Im hoping someone can guide me in the right direction here on where i stand! Back in november last year, myself a good friend and a company owner decided to join forces and put together a website. At no point were any contracts written up, as the company owner did not want this. We have all worked exceptionally well over the last 8months or so until a few weeks back. The situation is i personally built the website from scratch. This included all of the custom coding, admin area's and the functionality of the site itself. I also created the front end and the theme. The whole of the website has become extremely succesful. At no point throughout the project did i charge the company for the web development work. By offering my services (i.e. the web development) was showing my commitment to the company. The company owner of the website helped with the content and provided a number of graphics for the website. Throughout the whole of the time working on this project, i provided the company owner all of the relevant login details for the server etc, just to show that i wasnt hiding anything. Over the last few days, i have decided to leave this company due to the fact the company owner was being extremely unreasonable about tasks on the website and general language used in emails. Im now persuing a new project on my own. For the past 8months or so, the website has been hosted on my own companies dedicated server. Since telling the company owner that i wanted to leave the company he has taken it upon himself to move the website to his own server and is now saying that the website is his! I explained to him before leaving the company that i would be prepared to sell him the rights for the website for a sum of money! As i felt this was only fair considering i built the website for free. Pretty much these are the comments he made "Sorry but you ain't getting a penny from me and I have no money to give. You can walk away with a website and it's features and so can I, so that makes us even." Could someone advise me where i legally stand with this? Thanks in advance! What a mess it is! Tom
I believe since there was not contract I think you are wasting your time trying to get something from it. How could be stolen it was part his to begin with. Even though you did majority of the work its going to he said he said. You should have covered yourself with a contract. You can try and seek out a lawyer about I do not think you will get anywhere since there was no contract.
Do you still have backup from the website on your computer? Maybe this would be an advantage. If this website is really a big deal get in touch with a lawyer. I guess thats the only way.
Were you an employee of theirs? I understand you say you didn't receive any compensation for the website work, but did you receive any compensation from them at all? You didn't have a written contract, but was there any verbal agreement about ownership of the site before or during the work? Have you received any profits from the site? Is the site worth spending a lot of money in legal fees (possibly tens of thousands of dollars)? If not, you might want to consider it a loss - and now you have the experience to never do something like this without a written contract.
get a lawyer, and in court, make the person first say he made the site by himself. then ask him, "if you made it all by yourself, tell us how its structured then." and when he fails , you get money. yay
You should hire a good lawyer.make sure you have back of the work to prove in court that you are the creator of website
""""""For the past 8months or so, the website has been hosted on my own companies dedicated server. Since telling the company owner that i wanted to leave the company he has taken it upon himself to move the website to his own server [/B] That is not legal and THAT part by itself is equal to breaking into your home and taking the chess board because he thinks "it belongs to me" It is clearly not contest-its breaking and entering and if he already said he did so (which he seems to have said) then its clearly a win.. You have a case here-and you prob could win. Since he's already a dick bout it I'd not even bother to approach him just file a civil suit and make it a Grand Larceny case. You could find a bunch of reps who will represent you.The lack of a contract does not allow the individual to enter your property to collect his property without lawful consent.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to my thread! Things have developed slightly more since i posted on here! The guy who has taken the website has now changed the copyright section at the bottom of the site to say "Designed By Him" So if im correct as i still have the full website and original design on my old server before he took it upon himself to move it elsewhere this is giving me more evidence that he is in the wrong? Regards Tom
Wrong approach-you got him on breaking and entering. If you really want em thats the approach and forgive me for making a wrong assumption here but if your living with the parents-get them involved-this guy broke into your home & took an item-physical or virtual it does not matter
What about just trying to be cordial and ask for your server cost in lieu of any payment like a severance package for all of your hard work. Programming fees: $35 Hr*8 months - Charge him a reasonable server fee for 8 months
If I were you I'd definitely not let this pass. The work you've done, and the commitment you've shown for me is grounds enough to get what you deserve. While I am no lawyer, the whole setup is a mess. Just check all of your cards and use them right. You can start with the domain and fees to prove that if necessary.