borked

Hi folks -
I'm not naive about intellectual property, since most of what I write for people, the iT rests with me. I wrote it, you paid to use it. It's mine, whether you solicited and paid me to code it for you or not. You paid me to write you a programme which you use, but you don't have the right to redistribute my code or sell it on, without my permission.
Well, those are my terms.

So, I've come across a bit of a head scratcher, where both parties claim intellectual property.

I just spent the good part of a month writing a web application for someone. The idea was relatively straightforward - just needed fingers tapping away on a keyboard to implement it. But as I was writing it, I saw a huge gaping hole in the potential. The thrill of writing for something which could end up being a standard (geek thrill) got the better of me and I hit the guy I was writing for up on ICQ to run it by him. He loved it and doubled the price to implement it. So I did.

So the project is delivered, but I think I shot the gun a little too early. The code is nicely packaged and could be delivered as an independent standalone installer without too much trouble. Yet can I deliver it for others to buy?

I wrote it for someone else, but the novel idea is mine. Yet, and here's the catch22, it can't be implemented on its own. I've told the guy his code will not be unique as I intend to open it up to the wider community, yet he threatens to sue if I do.

Do you think it's my intellectual property or his?

__________________

For coding work - hit me up on andy // borkedcoder // com
(consider figuring out the email as test #1)