A Flash Developer Resource Site

Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Who owns your work?

  1. #1
    An Average User warpdesign's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    331

    Who owns your work?

    Quick question. How do you all feel about the following situation:

    I have a friend who has a friend that started a company. Being a start-up they didn't have much money and my friend refered his freind to me to do a website. I did it for an extremely cheap price, they were happy. Now they hired me for another project and expected the same price, I started it but didn't have the time to work on it since I had clients that are willing to pay me what I want. So they hired someone else to take it off my hands and I gave them what I had so far, all the fla's etc. I didn't mind because I hadn't done much work up till that point. So now, they want to update their original website that I did and want me to give them those fla's. I don't know what your policy is about source files, but I feel that when someone pays me they're paying for the end product not the source file. If they want my fla's they should have to pay me more for that. I set a bad precident with them by giving them fla's before, but that was for a project that wasn't finished and had a long way to go. But these other files represent a lot of time and custom actionscripting that they got for real cheap. We didn't have a contract or anything so ultimately I can do what I want. Is it unreasonable for me to ask them for an additional fee to release fla source files?

  2. #2
    FK's Geezer Mod Ask The Geezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Out In The Pasture
    Posts
    20,488
    Sure, you can ask, but don't be too fanatical about it. You never know who will send you more work. Personally, I made up my mind when I started, to give the client all files. Like what exactly am I going to do with them? You've always got copies.

  3. #3
    Banned indivision's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    474
    Well. Break it down:

    Option A: Charge for the fla's. Possibly lose the friendship(s) and gain no future business from them. Make customer unhappy. But, get some extra cash.

    Option B: Don't charge for the fla's. Keep friendship(s) and gain a good reference. Make customer happy.

    imo, it's a no brainer. this whole fla ownership issue seems to come up a lot. i really don't get why anyone would sacrifice customer satisfaction to make a few bucks on some source code that many other programmers could replicate and give away for free. seems vain to me.

  4. #4
    Not PWD ViRGo_RK's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Posts
    1,799
    Another question about ethics... How many of you have put back doors in your files, allowing you access?


    PAlexC: That's just Chuck Norris's way of saying sometimes corn needs to lay the heck down.
    Gerbick: America. Stabbing suckers since Vespucci left.

  5. #5
    No I can't do it by tommorow.. 1stbite's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,300
    give up the fla man, its not professional to hold clients to ransom...

    you will only get a bad name for yourself if you do request more money.

    and never do anything without a contract especially if its for a friend or even a freebie, that way you can set your limits and you both know where you stand.

    do the right thing and mark it down to experiance
    and in a blink of an eye...
    Media and Multimedia Courses in Nottingham - First Diploma | IMedia | HND | Foundation Degrees | BA(Hons) Top Ups.

    Give a Twit a chance!

  6. #6
    Chaos silverx2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    The hospital
    Posts
    1,262
    i thought for sure i had clicked coffe lounge and not boredroom.... my bad......
    GhooooostGIrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl
    https://signup.leagueoflegends.com?ref=4b5493e6c7342
    use the link above if you download league of legends.

  7. #7
    No I can't do it by tommorow.. 1stbite's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,300
    Originally posted by ViRGo_RK
    Another question about ethics... How many of you have put back doors in your files, allowing you access?
    never, have no need as i make sure i'm paid upfront before i hand anything over to a client and once i'm paid i couldn't care about access unless the client is going to pay me to do more work, in which case they give me access...
    and in a blink of an eye...
    Media and Multimedia Courses in Nottingham - First Diploma | IMedia | HND | Foundation Degrees | BA(Hons) Top Ups.

    Give a Twit a chance!

  8. #8
    An Average User warpdesign's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    331
    Thanks for the advice. Although I agree with your breakdown, I think the reason it comes up is exactly because another programmer could replicate it. By giving up the source you're saving that person time and energy that you had to go through to create it. It's not a question of vanity, it's a question of compensation for time and energy.

    But you are correct in your breakdown, it boils down to pissing the customer off or not. Of course if they're asking you for the fla's the chances are it's because they're done doing business with you anyway... I was just curious what other people's policy on it was.

  9. #9
    Banned indivision's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    474
    Originally posted by warpdesign
    Thanks for the advice. Although I agree with your breakdown, I think the reason it comes up is exactly because another programmer could replicate it. By giving up the source you're saving that person time and energy that you had to go through to create it. It's not a question of vanity, it's a question of compensation for time and energy.
    I see your reasoning. There's an argument to be made there. But, most clients assume that what they are paying you for in the first place is for the time and energy spent on the source, not for hitting SHIFT-F12.

  10. #10
    FK'n Elitist Super Mod EVPohovich's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    About to BAN you!
    Posts
    3,023
    Originally posted by silverx2
    i thought for sure i had clicked coffe lounge and not boredroom.... my bad......
    Must be a bug in FK today . Happened to me too.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  




Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width

HTML5 Development Center