I am currently working on a mammoth Flash project that I'm about halfway finished with. It's not a website... more of a configurator-type app (if that matters). Anyway, at a meeting today, showing a "work in progress" version, the client expressed a desire to pursue a patent for this creation (as far as I/they can tell, it's unique... and they don't want their competition to copy it), and one person even asked straight out if I was currently or intended to market this creation to other companies in their industry.
Sensing that this might come up, I had given it some thought, and had done a bit of reading through newsgroup postings on the subject. So, I was somewhat prepared for the question, and gave a vague answer along the lines of "Sure, we can work out a buyout deal for you to obtain ownership of the source files." I'm not sure if I worded that properly, and that might not even be exactly what I said... but the bottom line is that they want complete ownership of all rights to this project (I would still want to be creditted, and have "show-off" rights), and presumably some sort of guarantee that I'm not going to do something similar (within reason) for a direct competitor, whether the patent is successful or not.
I don't have a problem with this (in other words, I'm not going to say "Fine you want my source code/files? Hand over a check for $2,000,000,000 and it's yours."). I would, however, like to receive some additional compensation, and they understand this. I have no idea how much to ask for, though.
A little more background info. This was such a massive job, and I wasn't sure exactly how much work it would take to do... so, I estimated how much time I thought it would take, and nearly tripled it (for a total of around $28,000). There have been some bumps in the development road, but generally speaking, it's going pretty well. So, in other words, I feel that I'm being paid fairly for my work (so there is no "I screwed myself on pricing this job, so now I'll make up for it on the back end" factor).
So, the bottom line... what do you experienced Flash developers think is a fair price to ask? Yes, I realize this should have been worked out in advance, but neither side thought of it (my own inexperience showing here).
--Mike
but we are in eastern europe, so maybe there's a catch.
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