Who would/could own rights of Add-On if created under contract (including reselling)
Permalink 1 user found helpful
Help me understand the different possibilities of a situation where an ad-on is created for someone else. Here's what I'd like to understand.
Lets say I need or want to develop an add-on that doesn't exist. At my current skill level, it's simply not going to happen. So I find someone who can create it and pay them to do so.
Do I own it?
Can I put it in the marketplace and sell it?
Or does the developer own it?
Or could it go either way, depending on the agreement?
If so, what should I know about making that agreement?
Now I can be a giving guy, and maybe I'd want to put it in for free.
It seems like all the above questions still apply, right?
There's another issue, that of support
(I realized this as I read another useful post
http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/chat/buying-marketplace-i... )
I
Lets say I need or want to develop an add-on that doesn't exist. At my current skill level, it's simply not going to happen. So I find someone who can create it and pay them to do so.
Do I own it?
Can I put it in the marketplace and sell it?
Or does the developer own it?
Or could it go either way, depending on the agreement?
If so, what should I know about making that agreement?
Now I can be a giving guy, and maybe I'd want to put it in for free.
It seems like all the above questions still apply, right?
There's another issue, that of support
(I realized this as I read another useful post
http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/chat/buying-marketplace-i... )
I
. Hit wrong reply button.
depends on what you want to work out legally.
as far as we're concerned, the account that submits the add-on is the account that must support the add-on, and the account we will pay if it's commercial.
Support is no joke.
We don't actually require a particularly active level of support out of free add-ons, but yeah if it ceases to work its gonna get yoinked.
Regarding ownership of code in general, here's a good thread:
http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/chat/development-andndash...
as far as we're concerned, the account that submits the add-on is the account that must support the add-on, and the account we will pay if it's commercial.
Support is no joke.
We don't actually require a particularly active level of support out of free add-ons, but yeah if it ceases to work its gonna get yoinked.
Regarding ownership of code in general, here's a good thread:
http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/chat/development-andndash...
Here is what I do:
If you come to me to develop an addon, I provide you two prices.
One - you own it, you support it....it's yours. done. This will be %100 of development costs. So , for instance a complex application could cost you $6k-$7k.
Two - I own it, It's mine, not yours, I support it. You get lifetime unlimited use for you and all your clients, and only pay %30 of the total development cost. So, that same application would cost you around $2-$3k up front. I lose money up front but stand a good chance of making it back over time...and perhaps a little more. it's a gamble.
This is how I handle it. "most" of the time, clients opt for option 2, because they get what they want cheaper, and with lifetime use, they never have to worry about cost again.
ChadStrat
If you come to me to develop an addon, I provide you two prices.
One - you own it, you support it....it's yours. done. This will be %100 of development costs. So , for instance a complex application could cost you $6k-$7k.
Two - I own it, It's mine, not yours, I support it. You get lifetime unlimited use for you and all your clients, and only pay %30 of the total development cost. So, that same application would cost you around $2-$3k up front. I lose money up front but stand a good chance of making it back over time...and perhaps a little more. it's a gamble.
This is how I handle it. "most" of the time, clients opt for option 2, because they get what they want cheaper, and with lifetime use, they never have to worry about cost again.
ChadStrat
I'm not a lawyer, but this seems to be only bummer for people who hire contractors to get out of paying their share of taxes/health care/social security etc.
What you want to look into legally is "Work for Hire". Typically, if you are using a contractor(I think the legal term in this is actually agency) and you do not have a contract stating it's work for hire, and it doesn't fall under some specific categories you will not have exclusive rights to the work.
Again, I'm not a lawyer and as a business person you should talk to a lawyer and have them write you up a contract and explain to you the fate of the work in the context of your specific situation.
What you want to look into legally is "Work for Hire". Typically, if you are using a contractor(I think the legal term in this is actually agency) and you do not have a contract stating it's work for hire, and it doesn't fall under some specific categories you will not have exclusive rights to the work.
Again, I'm not a lawyer and as a business person you should talk to a lawyer and have them write you up a contract and explain to you the fate of the work in the context of your specific situation.
These are all excellent answers. ChadStrat, I like your approach and that's my vote so far for Best Answer. Any more ideas or thoughts?
The way I see it from a developer standpoint: if I do ALL the work, then I should be compensated for it. I'm not sure that I would want someone else profiting and earning income from work that I did. Providing support is all part of what a customer pays for in the marketplace. So, even if someone hired me to develop an add-on for them, I would still consider myself to be the owner since I did all of the grunt work.
I believe this applies even if the add-on were free. I would still have to do the work of providing some level of support (which is a marketplace requirement).
You could always hire a developer to custom-develop an add-on, and simply require that they NOT submit it to the marketplace (sort of like a non-disclosure agreement).