Hi Dave
From my experience, I would suggest that if someone is paying you to design
and implement a custom solution, then at the end of it they would 'own' the
code, that is, the rights would pass to them, unless there is a specific
clause in your contract or in the order that they place on you to the
contrary. This is based on the principle that the amount of money involved
usually completely covers your time and the cost of development. Compare
this with the case where Microsoft develops a product and charges a few
hundred pounds/dollars. This in no way covers the development costs, and
therefore when purchasing the product we cannot consider that we have
invested in the development of the product to the extent that we have any
rights to the code.
A separate issue, however, is one of warranty. If your client pays you a
fixed price, you will probably be expected to provide some period of
warranty, in which time you agree to fix any defects that come to light, as
distinct from design flaws. If your client pays you on an hourly basis, they
are effectively taking on the close management of the project, and it is
unlikely that you will be expected to provide any warranty. If they want
something fixing they will have to pay you to do it, unless they can
demonstrate professional incompetence on your part (which is rare).
HTH
Charles
"Dave Satchell" <ds*******@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1F**********************************@microsof t.com...
I am a consultant and I have a client that wants me to design them a
custom application with Access and VB.Net
I was wondering what the standard is for this kind of case as to who would
own the code and the reasoning as to why?
Thanx, Dave.
