[thelist] Who owns the design?

[aardvark]

> From: "Adrian Fischer" <adrian at logo-logic.com>
> 
> just got back from a long absence and a client tells me that he has
> signed up with an online directory and purchased 6 pages from them and
> they will copy what I have done for him on the www  to their online
> directory (so now he has twice the presence or something).  Im not
> sure tht Im comfortable with that.  Any thoughts on the subject would
> be appreciated/

so, he's not selling the work you did for him... he's just posting is 
somewhere else...

is it analogous to making the site accessible under another 
domain?

overall, regardless of copyright issues, what did you and the client 
agree on?  does your contract cover that at all?  do you think he's 
going to somehow sell your work to someone else?  would it be 
good client relations to let him do this, and help him out, too (and 
possible rack up some billable hours)?

the way you frame it, i'd say no biggie...

of course, i don't think you own the design you give the client (i can 
hear the replies already), at least not from a client relations 
perspective... after all, the logos, colors, and content, and in some 
cases elements of the design, area already owned by the client 
and really could only be used by that client... that may very well be 
their perspective, so you'll need to address that stuff in your 
agreements...

if you try to exert control over that without a damn good reason, 
then you may lose that client...