Who owns the Town (Web Pages)?

My local Merchants Association was approached by a fellow who proposed to do a web page for the town. When the merchants balked at his prices, he offered to do one for whatever they felt they could come up with. He'd hoped to sign on individual businesses based on his work for the group. They passed the hat at one of the meetings and in exchange, he created a web page that was basically an online version of a pamphlet that the merchants had printed last year. Same artwork, same copy.

Now all parties are beginning to realize that there's more to a web presence than simply putting a page online. It's time to put things in writting and either pay him for the ongoing tasks or find another firm to do the job. In the event of the latter scenario, who has the stronger claim to the existing web pages, and more importantly, who owns the town address? The current site is a space on a commercial provider, not the artist's personal server, not the artist's personal internet space.

Looking forward to your insights. Thanks in advance.

Alexa Jaffurs, Science Reference Librarian Weselyan University Science Library
Middletown, CT 06459

860/685-3732
ajaffurs[_at_]weseleyan.edu Received on Mon Mar 11 1996 - 22:27:21 GMT