Who Owns Your Web Site: You Right - Think Again
By Stuart J. Oberman

Surely, if you hire a web designer to build your website, and paid good money for the development of your website, you must own the website right? Think again.

According to U.S. copyright law, if you hire a web designer as an independent contractor to develop your website, your web designer owns the content of your website. The law treats the web designer as the "author", and as a result, the web designer automatically is granted ownership rights to the website work. The issue as to who owns your website can have a very significant and potentially devastating impact on your business. If your website was developed by an independent contractor, and your web designer did not sign a "work for hire" contract, then your developer would be considered the author of your website, as a result, your web designer has the right to assert the copyrights to your website. Even if your business and the web designer work together on the development of your website, the web designer still may be able to claim joint ownership in your website design and content. Obviously, this could create a major problem.

Before your company even starts with the development of a website, you should have a contract between your company and your web designer, which must include a clause that assigns the ownership of the web designer’s work to your business. Since oral copyright assignments are not enforceable, the contract must be in writing. However, before you sign any contract with your web designer or web developer, you should make sure that the contract gives you complete and unquestioned ownership of your website.

There is a notable exception to this rule: If one of your employees builds your website, then your business owns the website. If you are not sure whether a web designer qualifies as an employee or as an independent contractor, you should play it safe and require the web developer to sign a copyright assignment form.

The issue of who owns the content of a business website is very complex and potentially devastating to a business. Before your business builds a website, make sure you know the rules of ownership.