I did something dumb. I was "hired" by one of those awful property management companies as a temp worker -- a secretary for one who was on vacation. During the 2 weeks I was an employee, I built the company a website to showcase this townhome community it is developing. Multi-million dollars, right? Some people within the company stole my credit, removed the link to my site, and basically stole my code.<p>We all know most real estate people are Evil, but this really bothers me. I wrote this whole website from scratch, had my credit taken off and am kind of at a loss as to what to do. Just because they paid me some amount of money, does this give them a right to erase a signature from a painting? Help!
OK, there's more emerging as we delve deeper.<p>Firstly, it appears that you worked on this web site only outside of the hours you were being paid for. Is that right?<p>Secondly, you were doing this work in the time allocated to your own company as an opportunity to show what was possible. Is this right?<p>Thirdly, during the time you were being paid for, you worked only and exclusively on what you were asked to do. Is this right?<p>If so, then so far so good. Now the problems start.<p>Fourthly, at some point you demonstrated the web site you'd developed running on your own server. Is that right?<p>Fifthly, you were specifically requested to transfer the web site to a server they had control of. Is that right?<p>Sixthly, you did so, without mentioning payment or issues of ownership. Is that right?<p>Why should they think it wasn't theirs? Did you ever say to them that it was yours, not theirs, and that you were going to offer it in exchange for payment?<p>What seems clear is that there is scope for confusion. From what you've been saying it seems completely reasonable that they think they own it. If you think otherwise then you must explain not your point of view, but their point of view.<p>Consider. They were paying you. You produced this. What did you do or say to make it clear that the two things aren't related?<p>EDIT: If it comes to some sort of arbitration - what evidence do you have that the work is yours?
IANAL ...<p>Generally, default contracts (those in effect if you don't explicitly have one) state that anything you do or produce while working for a company belongs to the company.<p>Sucks, doesn't it.<p>If that's the case where you are (and it varies from region to region, country to country) then you have no rights. What you produced is theirs, and they can do what they like with it. Whether this really does extend to removing your copyright statement or not I don't know, but you're not going to find out cheaply.<p>My advice, for what it's worth, is to chalk it up to experience. In two weeks you built something you could be proud of. Looking at it another way, you've lost only two weeks of your time, been paid, and learned a valuable lesson.<p>Don't produce something unless you know who has the rights, who's paying, and how much.<p>The only other advice I can give is to write a letter "more in sorrow than anger" expressing your disappointment that they have appropriated your work, removed the credit, and have failed to acknowledge the effort you put into it. You could include a comment that it's been an eye-opener, and experience that you intend to pass on to others. See what response that gets. Be careful not to make threats. Be "saddened" by the incident.<p>Remember, these are comments from someone without a stake in it, and any action you take is your own. I still suggest you simply walk away, taking the lesson.
<i>During the 2 weeks I was an employee, I built the company a website to showcase this townhome community it is developing.</i><p>Ok, so... during the time that you were an employee, you were told to do work; you did it; and your employer owns the work you did.<p>What did you think was going to happen?
Talk to a lawyer? Not much else to say - only a lawyer will be able to look at your contract, examine the situation, and tell you if you have grounds to do anything.
What RiderOfGiraffes said so far is what I also know about the subject. To summarize:<p>- Worked produced while employed as a programmer belongs to the employer. "Signature from a painting" doesn't apply: they have not only ownership but authorship, too.<p>You have two ways to beat this, and both depend on the specific law where you worked and the specific employment contract you signed:<p>- First, whether you were hired as a programmer or not. This could be a big deal, but you need to dig into the text of the law or talk to a (specialized) lawyer.<p>- Second, whether work done outside official working hours is yours or theirs. It could be either way, but it's definitely written somewhere (law and/or contract).<p>You're not the first to stumble on this issue, but unfortunately here you'll find mostly hackers, less lawyers. When you look for a lawyer though make sure he knows about IP and employment law.
I'm extremely talented and adaptable. As "secretary" I endured the pain of answering telephones and routing calls. Whether or not I worked on this web site in or out of official "work hours" is irrelevant. I did work on this site mostly away from my official "work hours," answering the damn telephone.<p>The entire site was developed on my personal server, before being exposed to this Evil property management company, and my site is entirely wholesome. The changed link is not so much. I'm still begging for help; how much do I have to beg?
Been there, done that, lived with the mistake. Would all the stress, emotion and distraction of pushing further be worth it in the end? I'd just call it a learning experience (and a loss), toss the whole thing into history and move on with more interesting things.
<a href="http://www.willowvillagesquare.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.willowvillagesquare.com</a> is the site I developed from scratch. My company name has been removed and replaced with "Radio Homes, LLC". . .