Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Website copyright

I work for a weekly news print publication and we also have a website. The website is maintained by a contractor and we want to move the website to a different server and format. All of our content is archived with the contractor and he claims he owns the copyright to the website. He says we can have the content (news articles and such) but not in HTML form as the code is his property. Is this legal? This would cost us thousands of dollars and many man hours to reconstruct these weekly issues. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!


Asked on 2/24/09, 4:46 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Thomas Moens Moens Law Offices, Chartered

Re: Website copyright

It would depend on the terms of the contract you have with the website contractor.

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Answered on 2/25/09, 11:10 am
Robert Preskill Robert Preskill

Re: Website copyright

You need to review the agreement you had signed with your vendor, and specifically look for a work-for-hire clause; however I am doubtful that a properly drafted contract would stated that he held the copyright to the HTML code. If he is arguing that his ownership in the standard coding is owned by him, there may be other arguments you can make against him. For example, what does your contract stipulate about his providing the work in a format reasonable for uploading, transferring or other use--so there may be a warranty issue to seek out. Also, there may breach of contract issues you might raise, but I would need to know more facts.

Please contact me to discuss further. I am a California digital media lawyer licensed in (and with the ability to sue in) Illinois.

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Answered on 2/25/09, 1:47 pm


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