douglasb

A couple that I know own a B&B in France. They have paid to have a website created and are now looking at selling the B&B and moving further south. They have asked me a question about the ownership of the website and I don't know the answer, so I'm putting this to the combined brains of Scoobynet.

I'm guessing that they want to sell the website as part of the sale of the business, but is it theirs to sell or does it belong to the developer?

The site doesn't have anything on any pages along the lines of "Copyright - Frogweb 2005" or whoever the site designer was. In fact, the copyright stated on the pages is my friends' business name. I've done a WHOIS check and the domain name is registered to my friends. I have no idea what contract they signed with the developer and what rights or otherwise this gives in either direction.

My questions are - can they sell the domain name and the site as it is at present to any potential buyer of the business? As the pages say "Copyright - (friends business name)" can they (legally) make changes to the HTML code to put the new owner's name on the site?

I've done the View>Source thing and can't see anything in the HTML that gives copyright to anyone other than my friends.

What rights does the site developer have over the site now?

Thanks

Doug

boxst

Hello

It depends on the contract (which you appear not to have). Without anything to the contrary, as they have paid for the site to be developed, I would say it was theirs.

I usually put in the contract that the company is free to change the HTML, but I am not held responsible for any errors and will charge to fix them. BUT they cannot resell the site.

Steve

RichB

As a developer I would not expect to have any rights over the site assuming that it has all been paid for. The only time this would not be true is if the site was built using a template system in which case you wont own the code, you are merely licensing the use of it and populating the system with your own content.
Check the domain is registered in his name but even then, even if the developer owns the name and wont release it, the worst case is they have to get another name.
Would be a good idea to 'grab' the site though if possible, if the site is done using asp/php then getting the FTP details would be good, if not, then get HTML using an 'offline browser'.

Soulgirl

Why is that then? If they paid you to produce a site for them and they own the domain, why can't they sell what they own? I'm not being funny, I'm just wondering

RichB

It's a diffuclt one but down to IPR I guess... Bit of a grey area.
I would say they can resell it. Like I said, if they are licensing your code then no, but if you produce it for them and it is stand alone and can be moved anywhere then they could then sell it on unless you specifically disallow it. How you would police I don't know....

douglasb

Thanks, all.

Doug

AllenJ

From my experience, a website is developed for a consumer. The consumer owns the website. As long as it's paid for, they can do whatever they like with it.

Licensing a software is different, the consumer/client pays for the license but dosen't own the product.

boxst

Hello

I didn't mean that they cannot sell the domain and the related website. The contract means that they cannot resell the design.

The reason for the clause is that I did a website for a travel firm who then resold the design and code as an out-of-box travel site solution. I wasn't impressed.

Steve.