Copyright/License

What to choose?

[Spde]

Hi!

I've tried reading up on the subject but I keep getting more and more confused. Hopefully someone here can make things clearer. :)

I've coded a PHP-website for a company which they will host on their server, but I will administer the site for them. Obviously the company will be able to access all the code as it is on their server.

I want the code to be legally protected from theft, and I guess a simple copyright statement in the code will do the trick? Or do I need to create/make use of some kind of license?

I also want to be able to "revoke" their right to use the code if they no longer wish me to administer the site for them. Should I use some kind of renting-agreement for this?

Note: I don't have a company, just freelancing.

Cheers!
//Tommy

[Syzygy]

Your big problem is the "I've coded" bit, which I take to mean that you've already done the job for the customer.

Any ownership/licence issues really should be discussed and negotiated in advance, not in hindsight.

Stipulating afterwards that the work belongs to you might not sit too well with your customer. I'm sure they already presume that anything you create belongs to them!

Unless you've made prior agreements, I'm not sure that you can do anything now. Have a check via your favourite search engine for 'Works for hire'.

Syzygy

[tangor]

Work for Hire or Contract for Hire might apply. This is a rather large area of copyright law. However, these are things which should be discussed and agreed to before any work is done.

[Spde]

Well, no official agreement or contact has been written, although when we discussed the matter (in planning stages) the owner of the company (a friend of mine) agreed that I should still be the owner of and retain control over the code. It was actually more or less his suggestion :) (I don't really have a sense of business).

Also, nothing has been handed over to the customer yet.

I will be paid per hour spent administering the site, so in reality the company will not be buying the actual software... More like renting it I suppose.

[Syzygy]

Get it in writing...

Many a friendship has been ruined over a casually arranged business deal.

Syzygy

[LifeinAsia]

Yep, get it all in writing. If you search back through the posts, at least every few months there is a "I did a web site for a friend without a written agreement and now there's a major problem" thread. And most of those posters no longer use "friend" when they refer to that person.

Most of the issues could have been avoided with a written contract.

[tangor]

Take the work for hire route. Copyrighting PHP is about the same as copyrighting HTML... ordinary routines built on a modular platform... dang difficult to obtain copyright. And get THAT decision in writing as well, if that is the choice taken. Take it as a learning experience if nothing else. The next job ...