Website copyright legal dispute

I wonder if someone has dealt with this, I fear we've only just lost $$$ for hosting space:

Our web designer recently accused our nonprofit of being in "breach of contract", "stealing code", and "breaking into" our website, as I regularly change text and upload new pictures. We even had a community member translate the site into Russian. Our designer has even accused this translator of "stealing" files (this person translated a flash file into Russian)

Now, the web designer has refused to turn over the passwords to the server which we pay for. She claims "copyright" to all her work, and refers to a contract she signed stating that "all changes will be through her consent" complete with outrageous fees.

I have no problem uploading the site content onto a new server, other than that the web designer now owns our domain, as they were registered in her name.

Are we out of luck? Is there some way to retrieve our domain? I never expected this to come up. I live with a web designer and he's never heard of accusations like this.

Thanks for any info!

You need to find the contract and see exactly what it says and what your organization agreed to in signing the contract.

You also need to take the contract to your attorney to see if it is enforceable.

You may be registering a new domain name and recreating all the content and web structure, especially if this designer is claiming copyright to the original material of your site.

But I'd suggest getting legal advice and you may have to take civil action to get it resolved.

Dave

I am a web designer, and one thing I can tell you is that anything a client pays for they own, and it's their source code etc. The web designer does not own any part of your web site.

You can't "break into" your own web site. you own it. You may be in breach of contract for using someone else to update the site, but the rest is pure garbage.

Updating a web site under a service contract is a dif subject. Most contracts state a term length and at the end you either re-negotiate your services or you don't renew. Just like any other service contract. But usually this means using another outside source, and doesn't apply to anything you may do yourself, to your own property.

Simple thing is to locate your contract and end it. Use a lawyer to end an "unreasonable" contract. If it doesn't have a end of service date on a service contract, most likely it wouldn't hold up anyway.

Any reputable web designer will tell you this exact thing and I think this person is trying to use "terror tactics" on a non-profit. Shame on them!

A sad siuation, but one that is fairly common when non-profits let design companies or volunteers register domains in their name, pay for hosting, or otherwise hold the "keys" to a web site.

I am not a lawyer and don't know all the facts, so you should consult one soon. But I will give what advice I can:

1) Contact the hosting company. If you are paying the bills, then you own the account and can get the site passwords changed to lock out this designer. Of course, this may make her more insane than she is now.

But if you had an agreement that this person was going to create a site for you, I doubt that they can hold it "hostage" just because they got ticked off for some reason. You may both "own" the site content, but not just her unless you made a different (and crazy) agreement with her. Did anyone from your organization sign an agreement? If so you really need that lawyer.

If you don't want to create an escalation, the site files can be copied without having direct access to the site. I can create a copy and give you the files. There many be some limitations in this copy, but for the most part you can take the files and host them someplace else. This assumes that you have a legal right to the site files.

2) If you paid for the domain and can prove it, you may be able to gain control over the domain with some effort, since the person was acting as your "agent".

If the domain name is something that the current "owner" clearly has no legitimate claim to and you do, then the odds are good that you would be able to file a claim and get ownership. This will have some costs connected with it and some headaches.

You may want to get another domain now since the cost is so low, and get your site up and running. You can later point your old domain to your new site if and when you get control of it.

The best thing you can do is document everything, get some legal help from a really scary law firm that can put this person in their place and stop being such a jerk about the power they have over your organization.

Part of this documenting could involve publishing all the facts of the situation to a site or blog which would probably discourage others from hiring this designer. I can provide a blog for you to tell your story and that can document the events past, present, and future.

What I tell clients to do in a situation like this is create enough pain for the person so that it hurts less to give up the control then it does to hold on to it. The threat of spreading the facts of your story around the web might just be enough to do that. But you can also think of the public service you will be providing to share what has happened to you... both as a general and specific warning. :-)

Good Luck!

I agree with much of what has been said. If the contract you have with the site designer can be interpreted as a "Work for hire" contract then you as the client own rights to all work created. I speak from experience as I spent many years as a contract programmer. At one point I started adding text to the contracts that stated while the client owned all code that was created they recognized that they were benefiting from knowledge that I had gained working on other projects and that I retained the rights to create similar solutions for other clients, including reuse of any generic functions and the code associated with those.

Basically if you paid "market rate" for the creation of the website you control all of the content, unless it is spelled out specifically in the contract. If you paid significantly less than market rate for the content then your contractor will have a stronger case that they traded control of the content for a lower fee. But this would have to be spelled out in the contract for them to make such a claim.

As everyone else has said, have an attorney go over the contract and determine what you have agreed to. With respect to the domain name you can check the registration data via whois.net. This should show the registrant, the administrative contact and the tech contact. It may show a billing contact as well but is less likely. If you appear in this list anywhere you should be able to get control of your domain. Be prepared to send official letters on organization letterhead signed by your executive director.

Good Luck!