>>>...If I pay somebody to build me a house, I own the house.
>>
>>Yes, but you don't own the blueprints, i.e. the right to copy the plans and make and sell an identical home to someone else.
>
>Not so. If I have a house built, I would have had to pay an architect to create the blueprints. I was very careful in how I couched my response here. I am not talking about buy a house "off the rack".
>
>If you are an independent contractor - and you write an app for somebody - the client owns the code - unless you specifically have an agreement in writing that states other wise. This is the whole basis of what Work Product is. To do anything else, is unethical IMHO.

I understand your point of view, and certainly it is the view most customers would like to take. But, based on the legal information I have received, which seems to be supported by the legal opinions received by others who've contributed to this thread, legally this is not the case. For one source of information, take a look at the section entitled "Who Owns the Software?" on the Nolo Press website at http://www.nolo.com/nn164.html. The book which this information comes from is "Software Developemnt: A Legal Guide" by Stephen Fishman, which IMHO belongs on every independent software developer's bookshelf.