Shane,
This is highly off-topic but interesting and important enough to answer.
It really boils down to who owns the product (intellectual copyright) and
what sort of agreement you have with your client (ownership, confidentiality
etc.).
If your client paid you to develop the E-Commerce system they would
typically own all rights to it unless otherwise agreed upon.
It wouldn't really be fair to your client if they invested time and $$$ to
build the E-commerce system and you turn around and sell it to one of their
"potential" competitors for a dime. The issue isn't necessarily your
monetary gain but the fact that you may be undermining your clients
competitive advantage, something they invested in. In other words, why
should another client get it for less?
My suggestion would be to talk to your client and come to some sort of
agreement on copyright and restrictions (if, when, and how much you can sell
it for). Who knows, your client may tell you to "run with it and make
whatever $$$ you can" or they may say "that is exclusively ours and you
can't sell anything remotely similar for 5 years without our permission".
Be up front and honest with your clien.
My background:
I am registered Professional Geoscientist in Saskatchewan, Canada (similar
to professional engineer), which means I am required to abide by certain
ethics and rules of professional conduct, so I know little bit on the
subject.
This means that everything I do, as a professional, must be conducted in the
best interests of the public and my clients.
I must put these issues at the top of my list:
- Safety and well being of the public is #1.
- Diligent and responsible.
- Fair and honest
Hope this clears things up a bit
___________________________________
Scott A. Gerhardt P.Geo.
Gerhardt Information Technologies
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shane McBride [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: January 17, 2001 8:24 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [PHP] Ethics question...
>
>
> I have spent a lot of time working on a specific E-Commerce
> (shopping-cart) to fill a need for a customer. Now that the
> project is complete, I would like to market the product, which is
> entirely PHP and MySQL.
>
> My question is: Is it ethical to sell a product ( at a relatively
> low-cost) written in PHP, especially since this group made it possible?
>
> If that's ok to do, does anyone have any ideas how I can put a
> time limit on a demo that isn't easily defeated?
>
>
> TIA,
> Shane
>
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