Here is the situation (and specific references will be omitted unless it becomes necessary).
I did a redesign for a client last year which involved a completely new look and re-coding everything. All went well. Recently, I’ve noticed that they hired someone else to do some SEO optimization. No big deal, though it’s apparent they don’t really know what they are doing. In doing their “optimization”, they replaced all the PHP pages with ASP ones, but kept the design unchanged. And they modified some of the content to be more “SEO friendly” (e.g. adding keywords without regard for good content). Annoying as hell, but still no big deal. However, what does get my blood boiling is they removed the only credit back to my website, which I had placed in the footer, and replaced it with a link to their website. Now any visitors will see their link and assume they designed the whole site.
Now, the client owns copyright on the website (at least I think, though I never gave them an official transfer of copyright, but I did give them copyright credit in the footer). So, do I have any legal/moral legs to stand on here or am I going to be SOL because I don’t own the copyright? If I do, then what is the best way to go about it? Talk to the client first or go directly to the other consultant? I would appreciate any advice!
No, it’s simply a text link that says the name of their business and links to their website. But in my mind that doesn’t matter. Visitors will still assume they did the design.
Dang - had something sorta similar (a bit) … a client skirted round me for some reason and asked a guy to make a new header and footer for him - something I could readily have done. I do a lot of image work.
That was not the prob tho - this other guy made loads of changes and went PHP from the old html - advantage of course was calling header and footer which can I admit now be tweaked site wide very easily… The site was quite old but stood up just fine - only a few pages and it had been the intention to maintain it at low cost - just avoiding a major change.
The other guy tho had made numerous other changes including the css - so when it was thrown back at me I had to re adjust, as well as run the site off line via my internal server. No biggie in the end I guess but it went to prove that having some third party enter the stage and change stuff leaves a catch up problem - plus the feeling that one has been passed over. I’d as soon have handed the whole thing over to this other guy to be honest! Thing is he is not up to speed on aspects of the site content as I am and so I got it back - reluctantly - and it’s hardly a major earner.
Just frustrating in my case.
Your problem tho - I guess the client pays you and so gains copyright - that said you should retain some intellectual copyright from a design POV. I feel your pain. To be fair perhaps, you should have a link accreditation "Original site design by xxxxx - and then perhaps - "site modified by xxxxx’'.
If you still have that customer as a potential regular client it would make sense to talk to them about it. If they like the work that you did and are happy with the design I’m sure they wouldn’t object to giving you credit on the design. Of course it may involve you doing some tweaking for free to add your link back in there.
Usually when I work with someone else we give separate credits for design and implementation/hosting/maintenance (since that’s usually how it is split up). It could just be that whoever “upgraded” their site did not realize that you created the design rather than using a purchased template.
On the other hand, if that particular customer has moved away from your services to this new person, I’m afraid you don’t have (as much) sway to get the credit for your work. Even in this case, I think it would be worth talking to the client about it if it really bothers you.
Pretty much my advice right here. Unless you have it in your contract stating that you are able to have the link stay on their website, they can really remove it or put whoever they want on the site. Granted, they can’t claim they did the website specifically, but if it’s just a link to their site, there’s really nothing you can do about it.
While I understand the frustration, it’s not something I’d worry about too much or put any time into. That time would better be spent actively searching for clients since the number of referrals from the “designed by” links at the bottom of sites are not very high. If they keep your link, great, if not, oh well.