PHWinfo - Afficher un message - Who would "own" this website since it's written by a volunteer?

27/08/2007, 22h48

"Mary Sunshine" <fsrvival@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1188245224.908804.259020@d55g2000hsg.googlegr oups.com...
| Hello,
|
| My friend wrote this website: http://www.artskingston.com/ years ago
| as a volunteer, and continues to maintain it.
|
| Within the last year, she became a contract "employee" of the Arts
| Council as office manager. Her duties as such include answering the
| phone, handling correspondence, etc.
|
| The President of the Arts Council (I myself am a Board member)
| recently asked my friend to put "Copyright K.A.C." on the homepage.
|
| We are wondering, by rights, who owns this website?
|
| My sense of fair play tells me that my friend, who is the author, and
| who created it totally as a volunteer would, or should (at least), own
| it. I can see no reason at all why the Arts Council would own it.
|
| The Arts Council has never paid her to create the site, that is, to
| design it. They have not purchased it from her, or offered to purchase
| it from her.
|
| *Can* a website be purchased? or sold? Can she sell this website, i.e.
| the design, to the Arts Council?
|
| The domain name, of course, is the property of the Arts Council, as is
| the hosting space.
|
| If my friend puts the Copyright thing on the website, does that
| thereby make it the property of the Arts Council?
|
| Thanks in advance for any light that any of you may be able to shed on
| this subject.

The copyright belongs to the creator. Lacking a written hardcopy signed
agreement to transferring the copyrights the work product is her's and her's
alone. (any claim by the Arts Council to the contrary has not validity
neither does the AC putting the notice Copyright, Arts Council. (BTDT the
work product was still mine)

Lacking a written and signed agreement to the contrary subsequent employment
does not change the ownership nor does the subsequent employment convert the
work product to work product for hire.

It does not matter if the work was paid or volunteer.

The real question is this something she wants to fight over.

The other side is this something the AC wants to proceed with given the
nature of the organization.

That said, this is not legal advice I'm not a lawer and don't play one on
the internet.

27/08/2007, 22h48	#3
NotMe Messages: n/a Hébergeur:	Re: Who would "own" this website since it's written by a volunteer? "Mary Sunshine" <fsrvival@gmail.com> wrote in message news:1188245224.908804.259020@d55g2000hsg.googlegr oups.com... \| Hello, \| \| My friend wrote this website: http://www.artskingston.com/ years ago \| as a volunteer, and continues to maintain it. \| \| Within the last year, she became a contract "employee" of the Arts \| Council as office manager. Her duties as such include answering the \| phone, handling correspondence, etc. \| \| The President of the Arts Council (I myself am a Board member) \| recently asked my friend to put "Copyright K.A.C." on the homepage. \| \| We are wondering, by rights, who owns this website? \| \| My sense of fair play tells me that my friend, who is the author, and \| who created it totally as a volunteer would, or should (at least), own \| it. I can see no reason at all why the Arts Council would own it. \| \| The Arts Council has never paid her to create the site, that is, to \| design it. They have not purchased it from her, or offered to purchase \| it from her. \| \| Can a website be purchased? or sold? Can she sell this website, i.e. \| the design, to the Arts Council? \| \| The domain name, of course, is the property of the Arts Council, as is \| the hosting space. \| \| If my friend puts the Copyright thing on the website, does that \| thereby make it the property of the Arts Council? \| \| Thanks in advance for any light that any of you may be able to shed on \| this subject. The copyright belongs to the creator. Lacking a written hardcopy signed agreement to transferring the copyrights the work product is her's and her's alone. (any claim by the Arts Council to the contrary has not validity neither does the AC putting the notice Copyright, Arts Council. (BTDT the work product was still mine) Lacking a written and signed agreement to the contrary subsequent employment does not change the ownership nor does the subsequent employment convert the work product to work product for hire. It does not matter if the work was paid or volunteer. The real question is this something she wants to fight over. The other side is this something the AC wants to proceed with given the nature of the organization. That said, this is not legal advice I'm not a lawer and don't play one on the internet.