Until recently, I’d been laboring under the impression that once a client paid for a design, it was legally theirs to do with as they pleased. Then I heard of a client of ours whose site was designed by another company, who wants to switch to host with us, but her designer won’t allow her to take her current site with her when she moves.

Aside from being a horrible and nasty thing to do (and don’t tell me the designer is doing this because it would hurt her business otherwise–it’s sheer pettiness, period), I thought there was no way this could be legal. Surely the designer can’t hold the design hostage like that?

Well, according to this Business Week article, the designer can, indeed, do just that. Just like a publisher owns the copyright to a book’s cover art, a web designer owns the copyright to the design unless there’s a contract stating otherwise.

DreamForge Media would never dream of holding a design hostage. If a client wants to leave, no matter the reason and whether it’s a friendly break-up or not, what would keeping the design accomplish except sow resentment between designer and client? The client would only leave if she could afford a new design by someone else, and if she stays, you have an awkward business relationship on your hands.

Do I understand why a designer might want to keep control of her work? Yes. I’ve seen it happen where clients leave and their new webmistresses ruin the design with horrible (and usually pointless) changes. But this could easily be prevented. DreamForge Media’s terms state that a client can take the site elsewhere as long as it’s only updated and maintained with no major changes to the design. And if they do leave, the statement of who designed the site must remain with a link back to our company’s Web site.

So what’s to be done? Well, when choosing a designer of your Web site, make sure you ask about the copyright and whether you’d be able to move the site to a different host. If the designer balks at this, take your business elsewhere. Seriously. There are enough choices out there that you don’t have to settle for someone who’ll take your money and then keep you hostage so that they can keep taking your money. You don’t have to put up with that, and you shouldn’t.