Slick Media Policies

So that everything is transparent

Renewals

To ensure unhindered continuation of service It is our policy to auto-renew all services. E-services, such as hosting, may be cancelled up to seven days after the renewal date, but as we make a pending payment on client domain names these cannot be cancelled after the domain renewal. Therefore if you have domain name(s) that you no longer require it is important that you notify to cancel with us in more than 30 days before the actual renewal date (renewals go through with domain registration bodies 30 days in advance).

Privacy Policy

We will not pass your details to any third parties unless we need to do so in direct provision of your service or product. This for example may be a situation where we need to provide a developer/supplier your details in relation to the production of your web site or application. We do not pass your details on to third parties that may be interested in offering you a totally unrelated product or service.

Copyright

Slick Media operate a “fair use” policy regarding copyright and intellectual property of content. In line with this much of our work will be under a ‘Joint Work’ Policy arrangement. Our services, unless expressly stated are not ‘Work Made for Hire‘.

Joint Work Policy Agreements

If classified as a ‘Joint work project’ the “look” of the site – and the copyright in the content. colors, gifs, jpegs, setup, hyperlinks, and other elements that contribute to that design are initially owned by Slick Media. But in instances where the client plays a hand in making the underlying creative decisions the copyright is owned jointly by Slick Media and the client. However if the respective contributions to the end product – the Web site or Application – are distinguishable, there will be separate copyright owners of those separate elements. Not only that, but your contribution must be more than minimal in order that you qualify as a joint ‘author’.

Joint work projects do not permit transfer or sale of scripts, databases or other Intellectual Property to third party applications, web sites, individuals or any other sources and you must receive written consent from Slick Media if you wish to do so. Similarly it is also important that the web site designs and content (where Slick Media created such content) are not passed off as the creative work of any third party other than Slick Media.

Note: For a joint work copyright policy to be valid you must sign a copyright agreement for it to be both ‘valid’ and ‘written’ prior to the commencement of work. You cannot acquire rights to the site by an after-the-fact attempt at a joint work agreement. Verbal agreements are also not enforceable.

Text Copyright

If the text has been created by the client, then the client has the copyright to it. But it’s not simply a question of the text that appears on the Net, it’s also the way that that text is set up, in the form of HTML or other coding. If the Slick Media created that coding, then the coding, as distinguished from the text itself, is owned by Slick Media unless we relinquish copyright (see below). Included in this concept of copyright in the coding is the manner in which Slick Media has created any text structure within the site. So you may own the text but Slick Media may own the way the text is set up on the site.

Content from the Public Domain

To the extent that content such as gifs, jpegs and other elements were downloaded from the Net, assuming even that they themselves are free of copyright restrictions (which is not always the case), neither Slick Media nor the client can claim a copyright in that which already exists within the public domain. On the other hand, to the extent that these graphics were created by Slick Media again Slick Media initially owns the copyright therein. But if they are the clients creation, their logo, or their photo, then the client owns the rights thereto (unless of course the photos/images etc were taken by someone else, in which event the creator initially owns the copyrights therein and you must obtain permission to use them on your site/in your application).

Off Screen Rights

Slick Media and Slick Media partners are entitled to retain “off-screen” rights, which include all print reproduction above the dpi utilised for the web. You should therefore expect to pay extra for a certain image used for the web that, say, would go into a printed brochure. The same goes for online logos, photographs, and other representations created by Slick Media.

Where copyright is owned in full by the client

In instances where the client specifically arranges for ‘Work Made for Hire’ and this is agreed by Slick Media in the form of a written ‘Work Made for Hire’ agreement prior to the commencement of any work then the client will gain full rights to the use of the web site, its scripts, the application or other creation.This providing that we have the rights to transfer and not withstanding our own unrestricted rights of reproduction*.

In fairness to our clients we do fully appreciate that It doesn’t make much sense to keep full copyright on a client’s new logo or basic web design; in such instances we will automatically transfer all rights to the client in the form of a written correspondence.

Where copyright is expressly not owned by the client

A software application(s) or complicated script(s) is expressly never owned by the client unless under written agreement by Slick Media. Furthermore software applications or any part of complicated scripts (such as E-Commerce Systems, Photo Scripts, Web Applications, Server Applications etc) may not be copied, emulated or distributed unless under written agreement by Slick Media. White-labeling of a script for example is expressly prohibited unless stated otherwise in a written agreement (see below).

Should the client wish to own a software application or complicated script then this can be arranged in the form of a paid for license fee or under an arranged ‘Work Made for Hire’ agreement. The client should expect to pay significantly more for such an arrangement.

Any agreement is void if Slick Media does not receive full payment for the work outlined. This includes any preliminary work, such as concepts, images and copy.

This Copyright Policy does not cover any rights over the Slick Photo Suite/Slick Photo Administration Suite, which is provided under licensed use (1 licence per web site) only. *Also in all instances Slick Media retain the right to reproduce any portion of a web site or application in line with the production of any other web site or application. This to ensure that we do not stifle our own creativity and client offerings for future work.

Naming Conventions

You should also read the name ‘Slick Media’ in line with Slick Media employees.