If part of contract is unpaid do you own the content?

[zddoodah]

if i did sue them for some copyright infringement, are the damages here significant enough to make it worthwhile? i'm not going to court for the 2.5k they owe me, is there a way to drag this into 5 figure range?

I have no idea what's "worthwhile" to you, but you need to understand several things.

First, to the extent you provided any copyright protected material, you very likely also gave at least an implied license, so I don't see how there could be any copyright infringement -- at least as things stand now.

Second, if you want to sue for copyright infringement, you need to do so in federal court and you will need to register the alleged copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office (which I assume you haven't done already).

Third, the $2,500 that you claim is not damage for any copyright infringement. Assuming you have a valid claim for that money and that the other party doesn't have any valid defense, that's a breach of contract claim. Damages for copyright infringement can include either (but not both) your actual damages (which you appear to have none) or profits earned by the infringer as a direct result of the infringement (which are incredibly difficult to prove). If you register your copyright(s) in a timely manner and any infringement continues, you might be able to recover statutory damages of $750 - $30k per act of infringement.

I'd suggest seeing if you can find a lawyer to put together a quick demand letter for a couple hundred bucks and see if that does you any good.

 

[quincy]

A demand letter is a good idea. That is a less-costly alternative to a lawsuit and could be just as effective if the letter is drafted and sent by an attorney (preferably by one located in your client’s home state).

 

[bcr229]

You claim to be owed $2500 but does that include the Apple Pay and Zoom integration? If so then I don't see how you could charge for that since the customer didn't receive it.

If you use your favorite search engine to look for "stackexchange kill switch payment" you will find some decent info on how to protect yourself from unscrupulous clients who will happily abscond with your developed software without paying for it.

Unfortunately it sounds like you're in a bind in this case since you delivered the product before you got paid. Take heart though, as no application is truly bug-free. Unlike computers, we humans are fallible, and over time as business processes or requirements change, the customer will likely need some enhancements to their web site. If they like the work that you did then they'll probably reach out to you again, and you'll have the opportunity to present a much tighter contract.

 

[quincy]

... Take heart though, as no application is truly bug-free. Unlike computers, we humans are fallible, and over time as business processes or requirements change, the customer will likely need some enhancements to their web site. If they like the work that you did then they'll probably reach out to you again, and you'll have the opportunity to present a much tighter contract.

My grandfather was an engineer for a car company and he often spoke of car companies reliance on built-in (or planned) obsolescence. One way to increase car sales, for example, is to change a car’s design. Many consumers are driven to own the latest model with the newest gadgets, even when the old model is essentially fine (although servicing older models also gets costlier).

Computer software designers use a similar trick with a programmed obsolescence. Software can be designed to make it unserviceable after a certain amount of time, which drives up sales of new software. This works best, of course, when there is no close competitor that will siphon off the upset customers.