Deadbeat client; web design, site ownership...

[gloriagoldrea]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Contract was enacted in California, client lives in Maine & I just moved to New York.

I finished two sites for a client over a year ago & he still owes me 1700.

I made a mistake and posted the sites before I received full payment (total of about 5000).

After promising to pay me for 6 months and sending me condescending emails, I sent him to collections.

Then, a few days ago, I took one of his sites offline, sending him an email saying:
"I took your site offline, as you do not own the site. It has been over a year since I put both your sites online, despite that the contract stated that you would not own the sites (and that they would not be launched) until full payment has been received.
I will put it back once I get full payment. I will also send you all the files after I get full payment. "

He just emailed me threatening to sue me-- what are my rights? He said that things were delivered late (only because he delivered content late and made many changes, & asked for things outside of the contract) & that it is illegal for me to take his site offline.



The contract says that:
"Semaphore reserves the right to withhold delivery and any transfer of ownership of any current work if accounts are not current or overdue invoices are not paid in full. All grants of any license to use or transfer ownership of any intellectual property rights under this agreement are conditioned upon receipt of payment in full which shall be inclusive of any outstanding fees."
&
"after final payment, the client shall have exclusive ownership of all rights of any material created by Semaphore and used in the website."
&
"Copyright to the finished assembled work produced by Semaphore is owned by Semaphore until final payment, when copyright will be the property of the client."What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?