Under Polish copyright law, a website contract without an express transfer of rights gives the client only a licence (Article 65 of the Copyright Act). Unless agreed otherwise, that licence lasts five years and covers only the licensee's country (Article 66). And code rights are only one of the clauses to read before signing.
Clauses of a website contract
| Clause | What it should say | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | the features, pages and integrations | nobody knows what you accept and pay for |
| Scope changes | written consent of both sides, with the effect on price and deadline | each added feature becomes a dispute over extra pay |
| Acceptance | a check on a test version against the scope | acceptance rests on impressions, not a list |
| Code rights | a transfer that lists the fields of use | only fields expressly named pass (Article 41(2)) |
| Derivative works | consent to exercise derivative rights | the author keeps that right despite a full transfer (Article 46) |
| Libraries | that frameworks keep their own licences | the terms for using other people's code are unclear |
| Warranty | a period from acceptance and what it covers | a bug fix and a new feature look alike |
How we handle it
We write the order straight from the quote, and dates from a call become binding only in the order. After final acceptance and full payment, the economic rights to the code and materials made for you pass to you. The warranty is 90 days from acceptance as standard, and we sign an NDA before discussing details if you ask. If your company has its own contract template, we read it before quoting and flag the clauses to discuss.
Our documents, key terms and the handover of rights are on our contracts and code rights page.
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