>Dear John, Jim, Rip, Arto, and Thomas
>
>I guess I was hoping that everyone would overwhelmingly convince me to go sell the software as is, since I'm in a tight financial situation. However, my financial situation has nothing to do with what is considered ethical. Ethics has all to do with what is fair. Yes, I'm pretty sure that I could legally sell the software without his permission, since he agreed that I own all rights. But, I don't think this is the ethical or right thing to do. If I was in his shoes, I would be be pretty upset.
>
>I've decided that If I decide to sell the application, I will modify it so that it doesn't step on the toes of my former client. The main value to my client is the analytical studies that I've included as his reports. I'm going to remove these reports from the application. If other doctors require studies or reports, they will need to send me their specifications, and I will custom create their reports/studies. The remainder of the application is pretty generic from my perspective, and could be applied to other medical specialties. So, my selling that portion of it will not interfere with my former client in any way. Actually, I will be offering customization of this portion to each doctor's specific needs.
>
>I understand the viewpoints of everyone who responded, but I think it all comes down to what each programmer personally feels is the right thing to do in a specific situation. So, I'm gonna go down the middle and still sell it, but make sure it doesn't adversely affect my former client. I may even ask him if he would like to partner on this.
>
>Dave


Hello Dave,

I do not think this has to do with ethics - ethically it may very well be that your customer got much more out of you than you ever intended to give (anyway it seems so).
Legally, you should make a clear and explicit agreement with your original customer waiving his rights to the package. This may not make any difference right now BUT, If you make a real success ($) of the product the incentive for him to sue you may become just too great. Also, you are on (IMHO) slippery legal ground, because he may claim (rightly) that (a) he contracted you to produce this package for him and (b) you could not have developed the package without him (c) in any case the package contains special knwoledge etc. etc. If you feel you can make money on this product better to get the legal considerations out of the way.
What happened to you is very common with developping software for small customers. It is rare that one small (not corporate) customer can assume the full cost of developing a software package. Unfortunately, this becomes clear only well into the development cycle.

We had this this type of problem with a medical package and at a certain stage we explained the situation to our client and specifically rephrased the agreement giving us the full rights to the software package while giving him various considerations (free suppport and upgrades etc)

just my 2 bits,

Good luck,

Eylon