Who Owns Your
Web Site?
An easy question but a complex answer. The short answer is, "It all
depends." Just because you paid to have your web site designed, your
domain name registered, and your hosting costs, doesn’t mean you actually
own the name or the site’s design and its content.
Yes, you paid good money for all these things but unless you have an
agreement, preferably in writing, you may not own as much as you think you
do. Copyright laws state that the designer or the author owns his or her
creative output unless there is a "Work For Hire" contract or some other
contract that gives away that person’s creative efforts. This means the
designer really owns all the material on the site unless it was provided
by the payer to the payee.
As a site owner or as a web designer, you must be aware of potential
problems and plan for them. As a designer, if approached to take over an
existing web site, you should first determine who owns the "rights" to the
site’s design, graphics, and images.
If you are asked to completely redesign the site, using only company
product images and the company logos, then the odds of a conflict are very
minimal. However, if the company wants you to just take over the site and
make minor design changes, reuse existing images and content, and maintain
the site’s existing look and feel - tread carefully.
The company’s representative may well assume they own all of the site’s
contents, including the images, regardless of their origin, but without a
written contract that specifically states this - beware. To prevent being
involved in a legal action, ask to speak with the web designer currently
maintaining the site.
If there is a design or advertising agency involved, make sure you are
protected; otherwise, you may lose more in legal fees than what you make
for reworking the site. If possible, get the company that wants to hire
you to agree to handle most legal fees and costs that may be associated
with your takeover of the site.
Domain name ownership is another potential problem. If the name was
registered by a third party or the hosting is in that person’s name, it
can take a letter and some proof to ICCAN plus some time before the name
can be transferred to the actual owner.
Too many people hire someone to create a web site for them without
realizing they are only paying for the effort not the physical or creative
product, unless otherwise agreed.
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