Rights of Web designer

[brollox]

I design websites after hours, and host these sites for a couple of small businesses.
Recently one of my clients decided to move to another host. Fair enough, it is a free country.
My problem is the new hosting company grabed the existing site I designed off my server, and now is running it on theirs.
The orignal copyright notice on the site stated: (c) my client, Site by: myCompany.
Do I still have any rights concerning the design of the site, or must I accept that I have been screwed?

 

[guest2013-1]

how have you been screwed? did the customer pay you for the design?

 

[Mars]

how have you been screwed? did the customer pay you for the design?

Yes. If you where paid for the design, it no longer belongs to you. Any company details you left on the site was at the owners discretion. If they want to take it off, it’s up to them.

 

[GreGorGy]

An interesting problem this. When I do a site, my quoted fee is for everything and it is detailed. Some sites - MTN is a good example - have a very strict CI that must be followed. I was paid separately for my contributions to developing and implementing that design. If they choose to move the site (it is not their main one) from where it is currently hosted to their own servers they must be able to do so with little or no resistance. They paid for it, it is theirs.

Of course, what can then happen is that the new people break the design in some way and then guess who gets blamed? The old guy...

Best advice is to let it go. With MTN, I know their main servers are all running ASP and I did my work using PHP. If they decide to move it and it needs to be recoded for ASP to be happy, that will not be my problem. I can quote separately for that work though. I also point this out as well.

 

[davemc]

I design websites after hours, and host these sites for a couple of small businesses.
Recently one of my clients decided to move to another host. Fair enough, it is a free country.
My problem is the new hosting company grabed the existing site I designed off my server, and now is running it on theirs.
The orignal copyright notice on the site stated: (c) my client, Site by: myCompany.
Do I still have any rights concerning the design of the site, or must I accept that I have been screwed?

You're asking if you can force them to keep the line : Site by: myCompany ?

Do you have it in writing that they will always advertise you on their site?
If your answer is no, then, you are done.

 

[guest2013-1]

You're asking if you can force them to keep the line : Site by: myCompany ?

Do you have it in writing that they will always advertise you on their site?
If your answer is no, then, you are done.

Don't think it's the question. With them giving you a backlink to your webdesign company is pretty good advertising. Like I've been trying to ascertain, if he got paid for the design work or not.

Normally I include free hosting with any design and development work I do. It might be that he has a different model, I'll design the website free of charge if you host with me (and then they only pay hosting fee's)

The problem with the latter is that when they do find a cheaper host they will move. If you don't have a contract specifying payment over 12 (or more) months for hosting (so you can cover the time it costed you in designing the site for them) then the least you get out of the deal is "Web Design By:" link in their design, now hosted at a cheaper server.

Also, I assume this is a static website to begin with, but then again, people blur the lines between design and development very often.

Simple answer is, if you got paid for the work you did, and hosting was an extra, they have every right to do with the design and move to whichever hosting company they wish.

My clients know that with the free hosting I give them, if they'd like something changed or upgraded, I'm going to quote them for it and charge an hourly rate. If they want someone else doing their site, fine... but you'll start paying for the hosting. And all that is in my little 13 page contract... with SLA and payment terms clearly outlined, signed by witnesses the works.

 

[brollox]

Thanks for all the responses. I realize the "I have been screwed" statement is a bit vague, so let met rather give the whole picture:

1. The client changed ADSL ISP's, from Telkom to this firm that supplies the hosting as well.
2. According to the client, they did not know the website was going to be moved. The new ISP claims they have all the documentation signed by the customer. I can only assume the web hosting portion was in the small print, or written in a technical way which the client did not understand.
3. Before I started hosting the site, the domain name was registered with a 3rd party. The domain could not be updated when I took over, since the original registrar was out of the country. The person standing in for him agreed to point the dns entries to my server. The new ISP caught the guy just as he got back in the country, he thought the request came from me, and approved the changes. Thus the site was moved without the knowledge of me or the client.
4. The new ISP grabbed the existing site of my server, but they could not get the php and mysql, thus, half the site is not working, and my company's name is on a broken website.

You have answered my question. I have no claim to the design. It was paid for by the client and that is that.

I'm in no mood to give them the php code and mysql db, but if the client insists, I will probably have to.

I am more agitated by the manner in which this ISP does business than by the lost of the hosting income.

I know for a fact this ISP tried to do the same thing with another business in the same area. Unfortunately for them, they copied the wrong website. The previous host did not ask design fees, only monthly hosting, and stipulated in their contract that the design belonged to them. So, at the end of the day the business sat without a website for more than a month...

In my opinion it is companies like them that gives IT professionals a bad name...

 

[GreGorGy]

I'm in no mood to give them the php code and mysql db, but if the client insists, I will probably have to.

I am more agitated by the manner in which this ISP does business than by the lost of the hosting income.

Now we're talking...

So, I am sure we all have a couple of really smart ways we do things in PHP that we are just so proud of - like children. Some are just trivial but cool to do and others are quite complex and took a lot of effort, trial and error to get working exactly the way we wanted them. Then, along comes an ISP and pulls this stunt.

My terms state that while the design, content and graphics may be yours to do with as you please, the code is written specifically for my server. I will gladly load it on your server (for a fee) but don't expect me to document the code or make it work with another system. NMFP...

I wish I could say name them and shame them but I do not know of the legal implications of that.

 

[brollox]

I guess the only thing left to do is get my paperwork in order to prevent something like this from happening again. I have a basic agreement, but it is just that, Basic.

Any suggestions where I can find good examples?

 

[guest2013-1]

Thanks for all the responses. I realize the "I have been screwed" statement is a bit vague, so let met rather give the whole picture:

1. The client changed ADSL ISP's, from Telkom to this firm that supplies the hosting as well.
2. According to the client, they did not know the website was going to be moved. The new ISP claims they have all the documentation signed by the customer. I can only assume the web hosting portion was in the small print, or written in a technical way which the client did not understand.
3. Before I started hosting the site, the domain name was registered with a 3rd party. The domain could not be updated when I took over, since the original registrar was out of the country. The person standing in for him agreed to point the dns entries to my server. The new ISP caught the guy just as he got back in the country, he thought the request came from me, and approved the changes. Thus the site was moved without the knowledge of me or the client.
4. The new ISP grabbed the existing site of my server, but they could not get the php and mysql, thus, half the site is not working, and my company's name is on a broken website.

You have answered my question. I have no claim to the design. It was paid for by the client and that is that.

I'm in no mood to give them the php code and mysql db, but if the client insists, I will probably have to.

I am more agitated by the manner in which this ISP does business than by the lost of the hosting income.

I know for a fact this ISP tried to do the same thing with another business in the same area. Unfortunately for them, they copied the wrong website. The previous host did not ask design fees, only monthly hosting, and stipulated in their contract that the design belonged to them. So, at the end of the day the business sat without a website for more than a month...

In my opinion it is companies like them that gives IT professionals a bad name...

Name & shame!

Also inform the client of what exactly they did to highjack the domain and tell them that they now have a broken website. Easy as pie. The client will then *** out the ISP