Ask HN: Freelancers, how do you handle IP ownership of your work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Freelancers, how do you handle IP ownership of your work?

15 pointscodegeek3 comments

So you are working for a client and wrote a bunch of code. Most likely, some of that code could be re-used for another project (E.g. Users, Sessions). How do you handle this with multiple clients ? Is there a way to do standard IP contract for freelancers ? How do you assure the client that even if you retain IP for certain modules/plugins, they are safe.

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All of my contracts include a full copyright transfer to the client upon full payment. They paid for it after all, and not owning the copyright would put the client in a difficult position if they ever try to raise funding or sell the company.

However, it is common to use open-source libraries when building the project. Some of these libraries are third-party, and some of them may have been written by me.

For simple and quick re-usable components, I tend to rewrite them for each project. For more complex debugging & development helper tools, I write and open-source them in my own time, and include in the project based on the open-source license. If the client is paying for my time, they are not included in billable hours, and if they are paying for results delivered, finding a library to do the job is a great way to achieve these results.

How much extra % of the original price do you ask for selling the full IP rights?

No extra, I only offer one rate that includes full source code and copyright transfer.

Some clients have been surprised by developers asking a lot of money for copyright once they want to update the app, sell licenses or raise funding - for those, including copyright transfer is a selling point for hiring me. If client's don't ask for IP rights, I bring it up myself and explain why they will need it.

I don't think having separate rates for full source code & copyright makes sense. Most of the code is not re-usable between projects, and I don't get any value from keeping it to myself. The only use of charging extra would be if I could then offer cheaper rates to people who don't want IP rights, and raise the rates for those who do: but I'm still doing just as much work for the first group.

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