Ownership of the Website
When a client has a new website designed for them, there are often subtle differences of interpretation between the developer and the client about who actually owns what.
How you can be taken advantage of
A client may think that he or she 'owns' the website outright, but have you asked yourself 'Is the designer willing to hand the source code over to me?'
Or, 'What would happen in the event that for any reason I am dissatisfied with my current designer - would I be prevented from having another company take over the maintenance of MY website?'
In cases where there is a lot of bespoke programming in the website, the web developer may be very reluctant to hand over source code to protect their copyright.
You need to be clear about these questions from the outset.
Our business practice
As with any professional software developer, we invest a lot of time and money in developing our products, and we would not want our code getting into the hands of our competitors.
However, we also recognise the need that where a client makes an economic investment, they need to come out of the deal 'owning' something.
Therefore, we liken your ownership of the website to ownership of software you have for example on your computer. When you buy software, you are actually buying a licence for its usage. That licence permits you to use the software for yourself, but doesn't allow you to copy and resell it. Neither does that allow anyone else to copy the software for their own purposes.
So it is with a website developed by us. We grant a licence for its usage by the client.
Licencing
Should you wish to not renew a hosting contract with Stem Pixel down the line we offer you a licence for the unlimited use of the website and for it to be hosted and maintained by a third party. This offers us legal protection by preventing a third party from using our code for their own purposes, but offers you full rights over the continued updating and improvement of your website into the future.
For the provision of the CD with source code and a licence as described above, we may charge a small fee according to the degree of proprietary code involved. Should this be the case, we always make clear of any such arrangement and exactly what those costs would be before presenting the contract from the outset.
With a website designed by Stem Pixel, there are no hidden costs - we're upfront about everything. We are confident that we offer a strong product and service for businesses and organisations.
We encourage that - whichever provider you go with (shameful plug to self) - you are clear from the outset of what exactly your long-term rights are over the website.
