Oftentimes, companies seek the services of software developers to develop software to meet their different needs. The process is complex and mirrors surrogacy where a woman carries a baby for a couple. Like surrogacy, software development for hire carries many risks on both sides, for instance, what if the software developer decides to take the software for themselves or recreates a similar software for a competitor? Secondly, on the side of the software developer, what if the company declines to make the payment after the software has been developed and shared with them?
This is why the supervising companies need to use carefully crafted language to ensure that the ownership of the final product and any resulting Intellectual Property is transferred to the Company. Secondly, the contracts should have robust non-disclosure clauses tailored to your specific company or situation that prevents the contracted software developer from re-creating the code for another client.
On the side of the software developer, it is important to have the contract reviewed to ensure that the terms of payment are clear to ensure the contracting company does not fail to make payments in time before ownership rights to the software are transferred.
Meshack is a lawyer who specializes in offering legal services to software developers, e-commerce companies, start ups and technology companies.
You can contact him at info@masibolaw.co.ke
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