IANAL:
In the U.S. Copyright typically remains with the author unless, the author is an employee or explicitly assigns their rights to another party.
I recommend consulting an attorney familiar with these matters.
In the U.S. Copyright typically remains with the author unless, the author is an employee or explicitly assigns their rights to another party.
I recommend consulting an attorney familiar with these matters.
The issue with passing ownership of the code is that it probably increases (and in all cases changes) your risk exposure. This is a matter to discuss with your insurance agent. You may be moving from services to products, or vice versa, in a way that is not obvious.
In general, assigning copyright is something for which you should be compensated. I would suggest that in software development, retaining copyright offers more potential for repeat business via new versions, whereas providing code may turn a happy customer into an angry one when his 17 year old nephew says he can't modify it because it is junk.
good luck