Legal Question in Technology Law in Georgia

Source code ownership/non payment for services

I am an software developer.

I was contacted by a large company and asked to develop a website.

There were no contracts of any kind other than a verbal from me agreeing to do the work and a verbal from them to pay me by the hour.

I did the work.

The website has been up and running for 90+days with zero complaints or issues from the company.

While the site was under development I received regular payments.

Once the site went live I have gotten zero.

At first they said it was an accounting system issue that would be resolved shortly.

After months of non payment I finally got in touch with the company president of the company.

He informed me that he feels the site could have been completed in 1/4 of the hours I billed, that the code was sloppy and buggy, and that the database design was basically bad and that he refuses to pay for it.

I have email from his employees stating that the site is working, stable, and that they have no problems to report.

I have spoken briefly to a lawyer about this and he suggested sending a demand for payment letter and a cease and desist on use of my copyrighted software.

My question is, can I legally remove the code from the server until they come to agreement or am I liable if I do?


Asked on 4/04/07, 1:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Johm Smith tom's

Re: Source code ownership/non payment for services

If there are no written agreements, then you can stop their use of the software due to breach of contract. But you will have to explain why they shouldn't get to keep the work they have already paid for. You may be able to resolve this with an attorney; my firm is focused on Internet law, including IP. I also recently established TROANN to help people avoid this type of situation, but I haven't advertised.

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Answered on 4/04/07, 1:53 pm


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