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A client's old contract almost cost us a project in Austin

We were about to start a big web design project for a new client in Austin. During our final review, I found a clause in their old agency contract that said they owned all the code from any past work, even unused parts. Our new agreement said we owned our base templates. The client's lawyer pointed this out and said it could stop the project. I had to call the client directly to explain the conflict. We spent a full day rewriting our contract to clearly separate our framework from their old assets. It pushed our start date back a week, but we kept the job. Has anyone else had to untangle ownership rights from a client's previous agency deal?
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3 Comments
aaron884
aaron88421d ago
Did you see that article about intellectual property in tech contracts? It said these old clauses are a huge hidden risk, especially with how often projects get passed between agencies. Good catch on your part to spot it before things got messy.
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miles72
miles7221d ago
Spot that everywhere now. Old rules just don't fit how fast things move.
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the_cameron
the_cameron18d agoTop Commenter
That "huge hidden risk" idea feels overblown to me.
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