Website Ownership

[dotcom]

Hi Guys,

I have been informed that one of my previous clients has passed away (which I do not believe to be true) and owns me a large amount of money. I have received an email from a person who claims to have bought the websites/business from the deceased partner.

I took all the websites offline because he never paid the money due for website design updates, but the person who has emailed and claimed to have bought the websites is asking for the original website designs (which weren't what I designed and was giving them as a framework).

He is threatening with legal action if I do not return the property which is not mine, however I do not believe he has passed away and it is indeed him trying to get the websites back up and running without paying.

I have asked for a copy of the death certificate and approval from a lawyer that it is okay to send the "new" website owner the material, as I have a policy not to send clients details/work unless they approve of it to a third party.

Can anyone give me some advice from a law point of view on what I should do in this situation?

 

[paulears]

You are on dodgy ground if the ownership is not resting with you. If the condition of sale required payment in full to transfer the rights, then the site is still yours. If that wasn't a condition, then you are owed just the money - and the purchaser or any person he sold it on to or by death transferred it to own it. If it's yours, do whatever you fancy. If it's not.... Did we have a topic where loss of business when a web site was removed was seen by the court to have to be compensated for?

I'm no expert of course, but establishing ownership will be the first thing the legal expert asks you about.

 

[Paul Murray]

What was your involvement with the project? You say you didn't do the design, but did you build/develop the sites? If so and you didn't transfer IP rights, then you should still own the rights to the code for those sites. I believe in that case you'd be within you rights to retain the source files.

To clarify, I'm not a legal expert.

 

[Paul Norman]

if your terms clear state that you retain ownership until full payment is made, you are ok. If they do not, you are going to have to reinstate the site.

However, a strongly worded reply to the person informing them that the site was never paid for is in order here. If, indeed, he has bought the business at all.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I would say something like you worked on the original design as per your contract to the original owner, but did not keep a copy of it in its original format as it was not required by yourself, after you had started the additional work on it, and would naturally assume the original owner still had his original design, a copy of which he sent you

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I would also say that you are unable to deal with them as your contract is with the 'deceased' and as such you can only deal with the executor of their estate, and would need written confirmation of both death and sale of website. I would say that under data protection laws you simply can't discuss this matter with anyone other than the 'deceased' or their executor after providing the correct documentation.

 

[willv]

I recently had a similiar situation and it was a horrible position to be in. The owner of the business had died, and there was a legal battle between his widow and son (from a previous marriage). They were both phoning and emailing me claiming that they were the true owner of the website, and then they both individually threatened to sue me if I didn't immediately hand over the passwords to them.

I dealt with it by CC'ing both parties and their solicitors into an email saying that due to the stress of the situation they had forced on me I'd be charging £200 per hour from now on to reply or take calls. That shut them up, and the next time I heard anything was when they'd resolved the matter and the son wanted me to work on the site he legally owned (I told him to take a hike as I had no intention of working for someone who threatened to sue me).

 

[MaxWinner]

I dont know anything about laws and as others have said, it will really depend on the contracts you had initially - but my thinking was that any contract you initially had was with the original (presumed deceased) individual. If someone want to buy their business, it will be down to them to organize their own marketing channels - your contracts are not transferable without your consent. We always build marketing channels for companies and either rent them to the company, or straight sale and maintain, that way you can turn off the faucet if non payment or other crazy situation occurs.

My main question is.....How could they buy a business from a dead person - I suppose Derek Acorah has his uses - sorry for the puns, but i really don't understand how this came about, unless it was part of a will or a deathbed request or sale. If the sale went through at an earlier date, why have they waited until now to contact you?
I would fight this if i was you - good luck, hope it works out in your favour

PS.. People ALWAYS Threaten some kind of action, in most cases they have no idea what they are talking about and are just trying to bully you with rubbish -

 

[Plan A Link]

Whats the time scale here? It sounds like he has died and the business was purchased the same day?

Dont worry about the threats, A court will view it as you are owed money whether you get the money will be another question.

I would seek legal advice to see where you stand on this.

 

[AlanGuidry]

I have asked for a copy of the death certificate and approval from a lawyer that it is okay to send the "new" website owner the material, as I have a policy not to send clients details/work unless they approve of it to a third party.

That's sensible. Surely the new "owner" can prove they bought the material? If they cannot and you have never been paid, why would you simply hand it over?

 

[DesignerNick]

If the business owes you money, they need to pay you before they get the website

 

[beasty]

You cannot sell something which you have not paid for that is blindingly obvious

It is like someone selling a financed car and not settling the outstanding amount, if he wants it he must pay the balance, pretty simple.