Rate Ethics & Considerations

Work vs. Work-Product

Again, not a legal expert, but here’s how I approach things here. 

Be ethical! 

Your work can be bought, but your skills can not. 

How you complete a project is yours, this is the “work.” You’re probably using techniques that you’ve developed on your own and then you’re including them in the puzzle that is the “work-product.” The client always owns the work-product, and they can own portions of the work – but not your approach to that work. 

So here’s a good example. I’ve developed a series of media templates for projection that I’ve honed over many years, on many jobs, with many clients. If I use my media template for Client B, they absolutely own the media produced in that template, and they own the working file it was produced in, but they don’t own the template because you’ve brought that with you and refined it for them. Also: good luck figuring it out. If you bring a hammer that you’ve built yourself to a job and then paint it red with project money, does the client own the hammer? No. 

What if you amend the template concept with a technique you developed while with client B? Do they own this concept? In my opinion, no, because this is like red paint on the hammer. Sure, they paid for the paint, but they didn’t pay for the hammer. That said, you need to be careful here because there’s an implication of proprietary code that’s developed on a gig. The combination that makes up a Code can be protected, absolutely, but its many strings, as unique parts, cannot be. You can’t trademark a number, or a letter. 

What about a language – what if you develop a framework for a client? Then they own the framework and you cannot reuse it without clearance. Again, though, the framework won’t exist in a vacuum. You only can develop that framework because of your knowledge of existing frameworks. They can’t own the existing frameworks. 

What about a piece of hardware – what if you develop a new type of projection lens? Applying the same principles here, they own the lens, but they don’t own the skills that enabled you to design that lens. You can’t take that lens and use it with another client, but you could probably get away with designing something similar. Think about a car designer who goes from Audi to BMW: they can’t take trade secrets with them, but they can’t unlearn aerodynamic physics.