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My webmaster signed an agreement saying that all work done on the website is owned by our company.

He now thinks that he is being payed unfairly and wants the website to be taken down.

He says that he will allow us to use the code after we pay him a certain amount of money he thinks he is owed.

Is this a common practice?

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6  
You have an agreement. Unfortunately, you may need a lawyer and a judge to enforce it. – JeffO Feb 14 '12 at 0:50
2  
Hard to understand why he thinks he is owed more money from your description. Did you fulfill your terms of the contract? Would a non-biased party agree with you? – BMitch Feb 14 '12 at 2:48
Do you have control of the web site, hosting, etc? And you have his signed doc? If so, refuse his request and don't do business with him again. If what he is asking for is not too much and you can afford it and it is somewhat reasonable, just give him it and make him sign all sorts of stuff and never, ever do business with him again. Ever. Did you take advantage of him? Was he paid a reasonable amount? Who came up with the contract amount? – TimJ♦ Feb 14 '12 at 20:02

3 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

If all work done on the website is owned by your company then unless there is some specific part of the contract he is quoting it sounds like he's out of luck. That said, if you are able to make a backup of any files pertaining to the website, do so ASAP.

You can try threatening him with legal action, in which case:

  1. Get as much evidence ASAP, before you threaten (emails, signed contracts).
  2. Backup as much data as you can, in case things don't go well and your webmaster becomes aggressive.
  3. Present the evidence and tell him that you will take legal action. This is often enough. If he is part of a larger design company, inform the company of the situation and your next steps.
  4. Hire a lawyer.

I also imagine that this is a common practice, known as extortion.

EDIT - This assumes no other important details. I don't know your contract and I don't know why he feels he may have been wronged. Also I am not a lawyer.

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up vote 0 down vote

Yes, as user745434 suggests, this sounds like extortion, which is frowned upon in many jurisdictions.

Try to get to the root of why the webmaster feels bad, as this will likely be the key to solving this issue. Ask them why they feel they have been treated badly and why they didn't mention it before when the original negotiation took place.

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2  
One of these days I ought to actually set a name, heh. – user745434 Feb 27 '12 at 23:38
@user745434 No time like the present. :) – Karlson Mar 22 '12 at 14:24
up vote 0 down vote

Yopur development agreement with him governs - and it will have a provision about who owns the copyright in and to the site (and the code behind it). The problem is that you will need to access it, and if he controls access, you may have a great case legally but a tough case as a practical matter. If he were to deny you access and then put up your site, contact the ISP and send a DMCA takedown notice.

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