stupid programmer question
 

so i spoke to this programmer a couple of months ago about writing some affiliate script stuff for me anyway long story short..

was a delay of a week or two before he could get started that im fine with there was also another slight delay before delivery of the script again that im fine with but..

should this dude be able to resell the script that i had custom coded for me

surely it works like custom content, if i pay the money for something he cant go and sell it for less than what i paid him can he?

whats everyones take on this? once i paid and got the script is it his to do with as he pleases or do i retain full rights to it?

if you 'contracted' him to write the script and there was no clause in the contract that transfers the rights to you... or you have no contract... then the intellectual property remains his to do what he pleases with...

the short of it is get a contract before any work begins stating that you own the script and all rights in it

Legally, unless you have paper signed and notarized with an anticompetive clause on it, he can do whatever he likes with his code.

However, if there was a conversation at some point between the two of you that he not turn around and sell the stuff you financed to have developed, then it'd be very dubious ethically. Of course, ethics have no bearing as to whether he can or can't do something, just whether he should or shouldn't.

Whenever I do any development work that I feel I could remarket down the road, I always take steps to clarify what the situation is. Even a simple query like "This work could probably make me some money down the road, are you okay with my reselling it to others later on?" would let everyone know where they stand, and any respectable people would understand and have few problems with contractors remarketing their skills. We do, after all, have to eat.

In the US you need a "work for hire" agreement between you and any contractor. Then you own the work the contractor creates.

As the other two posters say, if you don't have that he owns the right to the code and can do what he wants with it. You just have the right of use