Copyright clause in a web contract

[PurpleReign]

Hello,

I've asked a local company to quote on a website project. They would design, develop and host the website for me.

They sent me a proposal which on the surface looks reasonable, however there are several pages of 'Standard Terms and Conditions' which I must agree to if I want them to proceed.

One term in particular bothers me:

"Intellectual Property Rights
(Company Name) Limited hereby grants to the Customer a worldwide, non-exclusive and non-expiring license to copy, store, publish and otherwise use the Website and the Documentation (excluding the Third Party Materials and the Customer materials), providing the Customer must not: sell, resell, rent, lease, supply, distribute or redistribute the Website; use the Website to create or operate any new website or web application (other than the Website itself); or alter, adapt or edit the Website. This license shall take effect in respect of a work upon and from the delivery of that work to the Customer."


So if, for example, I wanted to move the website away from this company at some point in the future, for another web developer to work on it for me (for whatever reason) the clause above seems to state that I cannot do so. I'd in effect be 'altering, adapting or editing' the website.


I questioned this with the owner of the business, who said that it was a "watertight clause" and that we would need to buy the Intellectual Property Rights from them before we could take it away or allow another developer to work on it for us. The owner went on to say that he had precedent for this: other companies had paid him many thousands of pounds for the IP rights.

So my question to this forum is, is the clause indeed watertight? Can I take the website elsewhere, if I choose to do so without having to buy the IP rights?

I'm inclined not to have this company work for me, however I thought I'd check with this forum to see what the general opinion is.

Thanks in advance.

[marc_conlon]

Hi
I'm not legally trained but I do own a web development business. As standard, any work we do for clients becomes their IP, and does not remain with us.

Where it might have merit is if I built a fantastic "all singing, all dancing" app at a significant discount with an expectation of sharing the profits down the line.

Irrespective of legal arguments, I'd urge you to look for another provider because this is not standard practice, IMHO.

Good luck with it.