Evidence needed...

[blueocto]

Im not concerned about the work I did; alot of it was below my standard; knocked up quickly due to his way of working and use of shitty programs.

If he had just taken me on as a normal part-time employee this would of saved a ton of hassle, but seen as I was freelance, I am technically allowed to charge what I want, I just have to justify to a court how and why I came to that figure.

I'll let the solicitor worry about all the legal ins and outs, all Im looking for is a base rate for a junior designer, possible mid-weight designer per hour!

[LeadMagnet]

Originally Posted by blueocto

Im not concerned about the work I did; alot of it was below my standard; knocked up quickly due to his way of working and use of shitty programs.

If he had just taken me on as a normal part-time employee this would of saved a ton of hassle, but seen as I was freelance, I am technically allowed to charge what I want, I just have to justify to a court how and why I came to that figure.

I'll let the solicitor worry about all the legal ins and outs, all Im looking for is a base rate for a junior designer, possible mid-weight designer per hour!

See my above sentence about asking local design companies for a written statement quoting their estimates.
Those should be taken as respectable and reliable sources in this field. "Experts" would be the term.

[landonRinek]

I'll have to side with LeadMagnet, No contract = bad business practice. Yes you own the copyright and reproducing rights to all the work you completed. You have received payment for your services, and since you had no contract what you got is all you're going to get. Just make sure to have a contract with rates on it and don't forget to invoice after completion of the project. Do not release any material until payment is recieved.

[tommylogic]

Originally Posted by landonRinek

... Yes you own the copyright and reproducing rights to all the work you completed.

Umm.. I don't think so. Not in the US anyway. This is even more true if you go to work at the company... then you are at best an on-site freelance or contractor. The work you perform for them is their own intellectual property.
If you go to work for someone, do what they ask and get the payment.. If you continue to do work and don't get what you think you deserve.. well, sorry about your luck.. lesson learned.

[blueocto]

Originally Posted by LeadMagnet

See my above sentence about asking local design companies for a written statement quoting their estimates.
Those should be taken as respectable and reliable sources in this field. "Experts" would be the term.

I am already doing that, but dont seem to be getting a response, and thought you guys would help, but its dragging out and I can't seem to get a straight response from anyone.

Thanks for all your input, but I already know all this, considering it is now 5 month later... all I need is a opinion or recommendation of hourly rate, not a lecture about what I should or should not be doing in all fairness.

I dont want to come off sounding defensive, or disrespectful or owt like that, Im just frustrated how I cant seem to get a straight answer, when I need it. Im impatient! lol

[LeadMagnet]

Originally Posted by blueocto

I am already doing that, but dont seem to be getting a response, and thought you guys would help, but its dragging out and I can't seem to get a straight response from anyone.

Thanks for all your input, but I already know all this, considering it is now 5 month later... all I need is a opinion or recommendation of hourly rate, not a lecture about what I should or should not be doing in all fairness.

I dont want to come off sounding defensive, or disrespectful or owt like that, Im just frustrated how I cant seem to get a straight answer, when I need it. Im impatient! lol

I know how you feel, but we've told you our opinions. The concensus is that £10 is a very low rate and you should be more than entitled to that if not more. But what i'm saying is that the opinions of a few people that you know through a forum is not going to carry much weight in court. If you're having no luck with emails + phonecalls to companies, you might try going in there in person and seeing if someone there can help you.

Originally Posted by tommylogic

Umm.. I don't think so. Not in the US anyway. This is even more true if you go to work at the company... then you are at best an on-site freelance or contractor. The work you perform for them is their own intellectual property.

Not here, not unless there's a written statement saying it's theirs.

[tommylogic]

So.. in the UK, if I go to work for a semi-conductor company and work on a project. The product I created turns out is the secret of time travel... According to you, I own that product's rights?

[LeadMagnet]

Well since production of such products isn't a one-man operation. I don't really know. If it was the case that you worked there and made a design, all on your own, then you own the design and all rights to it unless a contract to the contrary was signed.

There's an interesting article here that shows what can happen when an employer doesn't specify a proper contract (or indeed no contract).
The fine print - copyright contracts | Entrepreneur | Find Articles at BNET.com
Maybe not relevant... but interesting.

Consider a case decided in 1995 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. A national magazine developed a relationship with a freelance artist in which the artist would submit paintings on a regular basis and, nearly every month, one of his paintings would appear in the magazine. This went on for 10 years. At first, the editors would describe how they wanted to illustrate a particular article, but over time, they allowed the artist to submit whatever he wanted to paint because his style so suited the publication. There was no contract signed in advance, but each check had a statement stamped on the back that said by signing, the artist was acknowledging payment in full and assigned all rights, title and interest in the item (which was then described) to the magazine. In later years, the checks specifically stated that by endorsing the check, the artist was agreeing that the painting was work-for-hire and that the publisher owned all rights, including the copyright.

After the artist's death in 1984, his widow obtained rights to his artwork, had posters and fine art reproductions made, and made $23 million from their sale. The publisher filed suit, hoping to be declared sole owner of the copyright of all the artist's paintings that had appeared in the magazine. When the publisher then started selling reproductions of the artwork that had appeared in the magazine, the widow countersued for copyright infringement.

The case wound through the courts for five years. The publisher argued that the statements on all the checks effectively transferred ownership of the copyrights. The court disagreed concerning all the checks that did not use the word "copyright." Perhaps, the court noted, the artist intended only a one-time transfer of rights. The case was decided in favor of the widow, allowing her to keep the copyright on 100 paintings, plus the millions of dollars to be made from the sale of reproductions. The publisher could have avoided the lawsuit if it had entered into a written agreement with the artist when commissioning the works and made sure the agreement stated that the copyright was transferred.

[tommylogic]

A website I did in a similar fashion in 2004... I saw it coming. The owner contracted me to operate the business. Later asked me to do the website, a freebie of sorts. I agreed, he could use it as long as I was still under contract, but slapped this legal terms link on all the pages. Needless to say, they never bought the site from me & it is still in existence. The way I worded it, they can never have another site attached to that domain name without first purchasing my design, or I get the domain name too.... SOooo... the site is still up, more or less like identical to the first publications (some content is different) All the pages are locked templated regions.

Legal Terms of Use

[LeadMagnet]

Originally Posted by tommylogic

All the pages are locked templated regions.

A what?