[thelist] When can the client keep the product as their own?

[.jeff]

aardvark,

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> From: aardvark
>
> if you are an employee, your employer owns the work you
> do... all of it...the employee keeps squat...
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right-o.  it's called "work for hire".

http://www.ivanhoffman.com/work.html

there are cases where the employee can keep the copyright for themselves,
but it must be explicitly stated in a written and signed contract.

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> [...] and they have the rights to use the software you
> develop (assuming you develop any)... i do not consider
> HTML or JS to be software, the client gets that... [...]
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i agree that html is not software.  however, there are instances where i
think javascript development could be considered software.  i would say that
would depend on the amount of time spent developing it and how it was used.
for example, javascript for rollovers, form validation, dhtml menus, etc.
would not be considered software.  however, widgets developed in javascript
(most likely used in administrative tools) could be called software.  these
would be things like calendar widgets for increasing usability,
color-picking widget to remove the dependency of understanding hex/rbg
values for the client, rich-text editors to remove the dependency of
knowledge of html for the client, dhtml application that allows creation and
storage of hotspots on an image map, etc.  it would also depend on how
necessary the javascript used was to the functionality of the tool.  for
example, if removing the javascript would render the tool completely useless
(really only acceptable in administrative tools) then i'd say that in that
case it's part of the software.

thanks,

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/