Featured · client work
Lunarlink Solutions, Toronto
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Ownership depends on the contract, and by default it often does not sit with the client. Under Canadian copyright law the person who creates a work generally owns it unless it was made by an employee or assigned in writing, so a website contract without an assignment clause leaves the code and design with whoever built them.
The code, the design files, the written content and photography, and the accounts the site depends on are each owned separately and each need naming. A contract that assigns the design but not the domain, or the code but not the analytics property, leaves a business half-owning its own presence.
Many arrangements grant a licence to use the site while the relationship continues, rather than transferring ownership. That is a legitimate model when it is disclosed. It becomes a problem when it is discovered at the point of leaving, which is exactly when the business has the least leverage.
Some builds live on a proprietary platform that cannot be exported in any usable form. In that case ownership of the design is close to meaningless, because the thing that runs cannot be taken anywhere. Ask what the export produces before signing, not after.
Full assignment of the code and design on final payment, the domain registered in the business's name, admin access to hosting and analytics, and the right to take everything to another provider without permission or penalty.
Free written audit. No call required, no commitment, no upsell at the end.
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