>It sounds pretty slick. Tell me, did you begin to write the software for them, see the potential, and then get a copyright? Or, did they know up front - before any work started, that you would retain the copyright and license the work to them? The facts seem a little fuzzy here...
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This company had just gotten a contract with the state to handle pre-certification on mental health insurance cases. They were supposed to have a system in place that cranked out letters to the subscribers indicating they had been cleared for treatment or denied, etc. I mainainted their networks and also did some fox stuff against a Clarion database they had used for some other contracts. On June 27th of that year or thereabouts, I was on the way out the door and saw one of the clerks wringing her hands about how they were going to produce the letters. I couldn't believe they had gotten this contract and didn't even have a plan on how to make it work. I offered my services and July 1 they had enough of a system to start data entry and within a few days had the letters, reports, etc. that let them get up and running. (insert thanks to Visual Fox Express here)

Well, decided since this worked so well, they would sell it to another company. I heard these rumblings and filed for copyright before they go around to asking me about customizing the program. Funny thing is, most of the code was written by the Feltmans! (ha ha ha) I think I made about $40,000 before they went belly up. If they hadn't gone under, I would have made $3200.00 per month for three years, plus $100.00 per hour development - open ended. Man, I hated to see them go under!!! Talk about a cash cow.