Hi,
A couple of points:-

1. You should have asked for an order from the client prior to starting the work on the specification.
2. Documenting a specification is not a proposal.
3. They legally can't use your Intellectual Property contained in the specification, especially when they haven't payed for it, the title to the specification still remains with you.
4. If they have handed the Specification out to other contractors without getting your written consent, they are in breach of copyright. Copyright can only be reassigned in writing.
5. You could have a very good claim for damages with the misuse of your Intellectual Property .
6. There have been cases won over here where it was stated that verbal directives are as good as in writing, check your local case law.

By the sounds of it I wouldn't work for this company as the management look like they are a bunck of picrks, and doing business would be a constant nightmare.

Remember litigation can be very expensive.


>A close friend of mine is VP of a light manufacturing company and asked me to come in and look at a software requirement they had - basically a networked UI and reporting system for some custom firmware they had been developing.
>As i understood it he had cleared with the CEO that i would go in and produce a spec and estimates for them to take to their board of directors for budget approval (but that was a no brainer because customers were clamouring for it). So i went in, had a meeting with the engineer who developed the firmware, told them my rates and that i would itemise the requirements, and come up with a system concept with recommendations and estimates.
>I delivered a 15 page document a few days later and went in for another meeting to present the ideas etc. A week later my pal mentioned the document had been useful in a presentation he had given to a major client who was anxious for this software. They took it to the board who deferred a decision pending better financial statements from the CEO.
>At the end of the month i invoiced for my time so far (2 days) and sent it to my pal the VP.
>
>The board eventually approved the project but it was to go out for a competitive bid. They also said they needed the s/w but were worried about their cashflow so could i give them 60 day terms. I declined but said i could cap my monthly billings and spread the invoices out for them. Soon after i was told that i couldn't invoice them for preparing a proposal bidding for the contract.
>
>Oh well i thought, that will teach me.. friends and business. I should add that my pal the VP has been pretty much emasculated since the arrival of a new CEO earlier this year.
>
>My pal then sent me the competitive bid for comment. It was a 1½ page document that hadn't really understood the requirements (as i had understood them at least) with estimates to produce a prototype and do further analysis - what you would expect for your first free hour's consultation. I heard no more and soon decided i didn't want the job anyway - they were going to be too much trouble. And started scrambling for other work to fill the gap (offers please).
>
>2 days ago the engineer who wrote the firmware went to my wife's office (she also works there - i know, i know) and said he was dismayed i wasn't being awarded the contract and how sh*tty it was that they used my design to spec the project for the other firm.
>
>So i asked my pal to resubmit the invoice. I got a phone call from the CEO saying they wouldn't be paying as they don't pay for proposals. I pointed out much of the above and that as they had now benefited from my work they should pay me for it. He declined.
>
>I'm ticked. I should've known better i know, but i'm ticked anyway.
>
>What's the concensus? Am i being a male appendage and just chalk it up to experience or, when i my wife finds a new job, take them to small claims court. Candian law has the concept of "unjust enrichment" for cases where a firm can be shown to have benefited from someone's work unjustly.
>
>
>
>n