Mary Sunshine wrote:
> 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.
>
> Mary
>

I don't know about Canadian law, but in the U.S. this could become very
murky.

As others have noticed, KAC owns the site. And, in the lack of any
agreement otherwise, the author, as a contractor, owns the copyright on
the pages. But she does not own the site.

However, as soon as she became an employee, things have changed. Any
modifications she made to any pages while an employee can now be
copyrighted by her employer. Work she did independently *may* still be
copyrighted by her - but she *may* have inadvertently transferred the
copyright to her employer.

Such is the think lawsuits are made of, and quite frankly, I don't know
how the courts would rule on this in the U.S., much less Canada.

I agree with other comments here. I would seek an accommodation here -
give KAC the copyright, if they will allow "designed by XXX" on the pages.

Otherwise she'll probably lose her job and a customer. And it's not
worth it. Better to keep on good terms with everyone.

--
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Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
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