RE: Website ownership

by Doug Isenberg <disenberg(at)GigaLaw.com>

Date:	Tue, 22 Oct 2002 10:50:39 -0400
To:	<jeremy(at)localnetamerica.com>, "'dale'" <dale(at)daleznet.com>, <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
References:	dale
	todo: View Thread, Original

At 10:13 AM 10/22/02, jeremy wrote:
>I think a good argument could be made that you were paid to create a
>website, and that the client "purchased" it.  Since they purchased it,
>they can do whatever they want.  Liken this idea to buying a car.

         Ownership of a website cannot be likened to ownership of a 
car.  The former is intellectual property subject to copyright (and perhaps 
patent and/or trademark) laws.  The latter is tangible property subject to 
tangible property laws.  While the "first sale doctrine" allows the 
rightful possessor of a copyrighted work to do many things with the work 
(such as give a book or painting to someone else), the doctrine is 
inapplicable if an enforceable  agreement -- such as a license agreement in 
the case of software or a website -- states otherwise.

Doug Isenberg
Attorney at Law
Editor & Publisher, GigaLaw.com (http://www.GigaLaw.com)
Author, "The GigaLaw Guide to Internet Law" (Random House, October 2002) 
(http://www.GigaLaw.com/guide)

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