If website is paid for, who owns it?

Sorry, I'm sure this has been asked but I was unable to find an answer searching through the forums.

Our neighbor paid a web designer to create and original website for their business and have paid in full for the website design and creation. They are now wanting to switch to a different web designer but the original web designer is saying that they don't own the website design and are not allowed to keep using the same template if they switch.

No contract or anything was signed, the web designer crated the website and my neighbor paid for it, that was it.

The web designer did set up the domain and hosting for them but my neighbor has control of the domain and hosting; their contact info is in the administrator/technical contact section within WhoIs.

Are my neighbors not able to continue using the template even though the job has been completed and they paid for it?

Thanks!

Well, this is a sticky situation... Generally speaking, there should always be a contract which would state whether the programmer owns the site, or whether the programmer gave full rights to the company that purchased it.

It could get into a he said, he said type of situation, but it could boil down to what converstations they had prior to the building of the site. Was there any mention of what was to happen after the site was created... as to who would own the rights?

I would say, more times than not, the person that paid for the job would own the entire rights to the site, and would be able to, at their discretion, switch designers and keep the site.

Although, I have heard of a handful of cases where the designer still owned the rights to the site.

Your best bet would be to ask a lawyer in your area, as I can't give you an answer that is 100%.

Thanks! I'll ask the neighbors for more info and have them call a local lawyer. It's my understanding that nothing was discussed in regards to who would have rights to the site afterward.