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852a2a16
Community Member

Give source file to client is that legal in upwok ?

Hello, Recently I worked on one project for a design post. after some changes now the client wants the source file.

can I send it? I don't know why he wants a source file.

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feed_my_eyes
Community Member

If you're creating logos and graphics and the client wants the Illustrator file, then of course you should give it to them - that's standard procedure. What reason would you have for withholding this?

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13 REPLIES 13
feed_my_eyes
Community Member

If you're creating logos and graphics and the client wants the Illustrator file, then of course you should give it to them - that's standard procedure. What reason would you have for withholding this?
prestonhunter
Community Member

Keyur, if you were hired using an hourly contract, then those source files aren't even yours. The files you created while logging time belong to the client.

Hi Preston, 

 

I am working with a client with an hourly-rate contract, may I please ask I can send him the source file before the contract ends? I know for a fixed-price project we should always submit the result through the Upwork platform, but I couldn't find the option for my hourly-rate project. Just want to know what is the best way to protect me in situations like this. I guess you know the answer, I am looking forward to your reply.

 

Thanks, all the best,

Emma


Preston H wrote:

Keyur, if you were hired using an hourly contract, then those source files aren't even yours. The files you created while logging time belong to the client.


Perhaps. That depends on what the client and freelancer agreed to.

Hi Tiffany,

 

May I ask if before the contract ends, the client asking me to send the source file, can I send it through the Upwork messager? It is an hourly-rate project and I have used the time tracker.

 

Thanks,

Emma

Emma: yes, you may send the files through Upwork Messenger.

 

You may send the files using any method the client asks you to use.

 

You really should send these files as soon as possible. They don't belong to you. These files belong to the client.

re: "That depends on what the client and freelancer agreed to."

 

With a fixed-price contract, what files the freelancer sends to the client depend on the specific agreement.

 

With an hourly contract, all work product produced while working on behalf of the client belongs to the client. No additional agreement is necessary.

 

If the freelancer is logging time while working for me, and types a comma in an email message, then that comma belongs to me.

Source files are not equivalent to work product.

 

If the freelancer is logging time while working for me, and types a comma in an email message, then that comma belongs to me.


But you don't get the rights to the font used. That's the difference.

 

If I lay out a book (for example), the client is paying for the final  design. Not my own templates, not the fonts. In fact, it may be illegal to send the fonts used if the client doesn't have a licence to use them. There are countless other examples.

 

The answer here depends on what is contained in the source file and what was agreed.

 

re: "But you don't get the rights to the font used. That's the difference."

 

Talking about stuff she made. Not taking about fonts. She didn't make the fonts.


You have a valid point about the distinction between "work product" and "source files." As a programmer, I definitely look at this from a different perspective than someone doing page layout work.

 

Anyway... Emma seems to be worried about violating an Upwork rule if she sends files the wrong way or at the wrong time. She was thinking about the Submit button used with fixed-price contracts, and wondering about the analogue to that with hourly contracts.

 

This isn't a question about licensed fonts, which is a legitimate issue, but not what Emma was wondering about.

In response to the original post, Christine posited an example of if a freelancer should give the original editable Adobe Illustrator file, or just an exported raster/pixel file, pointing out that if the freelancer sent the Illustrator file, the client could make her own changes. In that situation: this was an hourly contract and the Illustrator file belongs to the client. The freelancer must send it.

 

I don't know if Emma is working on an Adobe Illustrator file or something else. But the general principle is the same.

 

If creating something while logging time, the freelancer needs to give the client what he created. And that means the client will be able to make change on her own. If she has the right skills and software. The freelancer isn't going to send a copy of Adobe Illustrator, and the freelancer isn't going to send fonts. Both of these are software that the freelancer didn't create.

I was addressing the original post.

 

Fonts were simply an example chosen because you specified a piece of text.

 

It doesn't matter if the project is hourly, fixed price or paid for in fairy dust. The source files don't automatically belong to the client. 


Kim F wrote:

. The source files don't automatically belong to the client. 


I'm not confident that this is true under Upwork's "optional" contract terms. 

 

I don't know anything about the process/files involved and IP isn't my area, so I'm not saying they ARE included. But, if I were in a field that used source files and working through Upwork and didn't want to include those source files, I would either consult an IP attorney to interpret Upwork's contract terms or replace the optional contract terms with ones that clearly protected that element.


Tiffany S wrote:

Kim F wrote:

. The source files don't automatically belong to the client. 


I'm not confident that this is true under Upwork's "optional" contract terms. 

 

I don't know anything about the process/files involved and IP isn't my area, so I'm not saying they ARE included. But, if I were in a field that used source files and working through Upwork and didn't want to include those source files, I would either consult an IP attorney to interpret Upwork's contract terms or replace the optional contract terms with ones that clearly protected that element.


I was trying to say (clearly badly) that assuming the client *automatically* has rights to source files is a mistake. If the contract was for (say) a jpg or a pdf, then that's what it's for, not everything that was used to create those things.

 

Often, it doesn't matter and people don't give two hoots whether they're requested or not. And sometimes people request the source files even if they have no way of accessing them because they don't have the right software. (Been there, got the t-shirt.)

 

Sometimes - as with fonts because they're the easiest to consider here - it might not be legal and there's no way that Upworks terms and conditions could override the law.

 

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