jbiggs77
07-05-2005, 05:16 PM
Note: Also posted at Sitepoint. I know many people frequent both, but I thought I may get some good advice from both places.
OK, I will try to condense this story as much as possible. I was contacted by a gentleman to set up an online store. I set up said store with OSCommerce and added around 150 products to the site database. I then billed customer for the work.
He did not pay, citing money issues at first. He also changed the password to the webserver. I felt he was trying to rip me off, but had left myself a way into the OSCommerce backend. I went in, made a copy of the database for myself and erased all the product listings. I emailed and offered to upload all products as soon as payment was received.
Few more months of non-payment, I contact collection agency. Client emails me and says he is going to counter sue me for lost revenue because I took the site down.
My question, did he own the content because it was placed on his (rented) hosting account? Or, is the content still my intellectual property until payed for?
I know there may not be any lawyer's here, but I am hoping someone else has maybe ran into this situation before or knows where the law lies. I am located in Ohio if that makes a difference.
OK, I will try to condense this story as much as possible. I was contacted by a gentleman to set up an online store. I set up said store with OSCommerce and added around 150 products to the site database. I then billed customer for the work.
He did not pay, citing money issues at first. He also changed the password to the webserver. I felt he was trying to rip me off, but had left myself a way into the OSCommerce backend. I went in, made a copy of the database for myself and erased all the product listings. I emailed and offered to upload all products as soon as payment was received.
Few more months of non-payment, I contact collection agency. Client emails me and says he is going to counter sue me for lost revenue because I took the site down.
My question, did he own the content because it was placed on his (rented) hosting account? Or, is the content still my intellectual property until payed for?
I know there may not be any lawyer's here, but I am hoping someone else has maybe ran into this situation before or knows where the law lies. I am located in Ohio if that makes a difference.