Legal Question in Technology Law in Washington

Who owns my domain & website?

I volunteer for a non-profit sports league. I began as the league statistician, a job that no one had been doing for 15 years. In 1999 I proposed that I create a website for the league for $100 per team per year. They accepted. The first year most teams paid the fee but each year less and less pay. Last year only one of 12 teams paid. I don't mind because I enjoy keeping the website up to date - I consider it a hobby.

I pay for the domain and the monthly webhosting fees. I originally purchased the domain in the league's name but with my personal funds. Do I own the domain?

Since I'm the only one with the password I can edit the whois information and put the domain into my name. Will doing that change or resolve any ownership issues?

I created the vast majority of the content on the site. The rest was donated by players (logos, title-banners, etc). Do I own the content of the site?

This new owner claims that the league owns the website and they just allow me to manage it and that if I stepped out of the league I would have to turn it over to them. Is this true?

Thanks in advance for your help!


Asked on 5/30/03, 3:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Regina Mullen Legal Data Services, PLC

Re: Who owns my domain & website?

Let's assume that the league owns a car, and they allow you to wash it every week, without written contract. You even put ads in the paper saying "look at this great car!" and hang one of those little pine smellum things from the rear view...Do you then own the car? The analogy isn't perfect, but my point is that you don't have any rights to exploit the intellectual property of the league without their permission. They didn't give you the right to own the league name, likenesses of people in the league or anything else that you could not have compiled from the newspaper. If the members paid for the maintenance, then anything above that compensated you for your time and efforts. If you volunteered to do it, that's free to them, sort of like a fan website. If an accounting is done, they probably could convince a judge that they own the domain and hosting, and that that's what the various $100 fees paid for, plus a stipend for your time and effort.

HOWEVER, you're not totally out of luck here. Any content that you created independently is presumably owned by you since I saw nothing of your granting them rights to use it. An accounting should be done to clarify where their money was spent (their right) and how much compensation you have received for your time (your right). I don't think you have the right to monkey around with the site registrations, --if you end up in court, who will look bad as a result? You. Given that hosting AND domain registration is dirt cheap now, I don't think the volunteer nature of your work will convince anyone that you're the victim here. It's just a parting of the ways, which, if you manage it well, can result in a continued relationship, or even a better deal than before.

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Answered on 5/31/03, 1:00 pm


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