IP & Creative Industry
Intellectual Property (IP) in Web Development is the ownership and subsequent protection of the design (look & feel, Logos, images, pictures, text/content, domain name, any data gathered by the website or application which is stored in the back end database and of course the underlying source code.
So who owns the code?
Generally the law states that the owner of the copyright is the author of the underlying code. It is important to note that his will be the employer is the author was an employee. It should also be noted that the client is more than likely to own the copyright to the logos, imagery, pictures, content and so on.
The client can be the owner of the underlying code but only if the rights have been transferred.
Why's it important?
In web development the website or application will inevitably need updating at some point in future it is therefore important for the developer (the owner of the code) has some protection in law. The client or new developer may 'rip off' the underlying code without the original developer's permission resulting in a subsequent financial loss for the original developer. Who owns what should be resolved and written into any contract before any work is undertaken as this is inevitably easier to resolve at this early stage. Some companies specialise in creating web site templates and in these instance the company will own the template, it is again therefore important to establish who the IP belongs to for each of website components. IP plays an important role in web development but it doesn't stifle creativity. Web sites and applications are continually evolving and in my opinion there's still a real hunger for bespoke custom built websites that meet the needs of the customer or organisation.
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