Discussion:
What is the name of your state? CA
I enterd into an agreement with some one to creat a web site. There was never any paper worked signed, it was basically a gentlemans agreement with a hand shank. I have since found out that he is no gentleman.
We were to split the profits and liabilites 50-50. I was to do all the web work while he did all the phone work to get paid advertisers. I was to send him $500.00 to cover half the cost of filing the L.L.C. After many hours of hard work he told me not to send the money because he had already filled the L.L.C. with himself as the sole buisness and financial decision maker. I don't know if he actually filed it becaause I have never seen a copy of the filing. I also found out that he had sold advertising and was keeping 100% of the money. When I asked him for my 50% he basically said that he was the one that sold the advertising and that the money was his. He told me that if I wanted money I better start selling advertising. I then proceded to take all the content which I created off of the site, which was 100% of it. He then threatend me with a law suit because I had maliciously taken the site down. I explaind that the site would be back up when I receive payment for my work. I also told him that if he did not pay that I would take the content else where. He is the rigistrant of the domain and has full access to it, but just doesn't know how.
My questions are; Does he have a case, am I liable for damages? If he does not pay do I have the right to keep all the content and work which I created and take it else where?
Thanks to anyone who can give me some sound advice.
Answer:
I've run into this myself a couple times and each time it was resolved differently.
Absent a written agreement about the web site development and ownership and in some cases it doesn't matter, the copyright rest with the original author. If you are the original, sole author it's your work product. That's about the simplest explanation I can provide.
You might want to check out these links to see if they are of any help:

Answer:
Thanks for the excelent links Tunie. You pretty much answered all my questions. Now that I know that I am the copyright holder of all the material I created I will be able to sleep better at night.
Thanks Again!
Answer:
Thanks for the excelent links Tunie. You pretty much answered all my questions. Now that I know that I am the copyright holder of all the material I created I will be able to sleep better at night.
Thanks Again! While that's certainly true re: copyright ownership, it's possible that the LLC has an "implied license" to continue to use the work that was done for the LLC.