Who owns the copyright to an MT4 EA?

Sure i have all the communications but what am i supposed to go to court on the other side of the country? It just a shame that the coder can just take other peoples idea and throw his copyright on it and i have no right to anything even though its my invention. Im not a bad person and i have done absolutely nothing to the guy. never complained once until he was 3 weeks late with delivery. i guess right and wrong just dont matter anymore and its my fault for not making the guy sign a stupid contract saying he wouldnt steal my idea and copyright it as his own.

This is not some magical EA. Its a little complex but its just a management expert. To me its more just the principle that i thought it up and designed it to meet my exact needs. I could never find one that did just what i wanted and after a few years i decided to have one made. I put alot of thought into it but its not really worth much to anyone other than me. Almost like sentimental or something. At this point i dont know if its worth trying to decompile it or just start over. I mean if its going to be more work to get this one working correctly than it would be to build a new one then i dont know.

billko1977,

I'm a IP lawyer. Whether or not you own the copyright depends on the country you are in. In certain countries, paying for work to be done, whether it is inventor paying for design work or entrepreneur getting a program coded, the person who commissions that work owns the copyright. There are variations of this law worldwide, but principle remains the same.

So tell me what country you are in and I'll try to look up the relevant laws for you. However to enforce it, the coder would need to be in the same country. If you cant find the coder, then it is going to be difficult to serve him notices etc.

Also as someone mentioned previously, this behaviour from the coder is detrimental to the community and destroys element of trust which is necessary for any one else who are considering hiring a coder in the future. So by telling everyone the name of the coder who is giving you trouble would not only helps others to avoid the same troublesome individual, but also dispels a general distrust on all coders in the future.

So, how much did you pay the programmer for the work?

I paid him exactly what he asked for... i didnt try to low ball or negotiate. He gave me a quote and i paid in full.

For US copyright laws - http://web.law.columbia.edu/keep-you...orks-made-hire

This should clear up your situation.

Who was it if you don't mind, so we don't get scammed?

Perhaps you should consider CodeMeisters suggestion?

Take the hours you estimate the contractor has spent working on your project. Divide that by what you paid him/her. Compare that to your hourly wage. Compare it to the minimum wage. Consider how that would make you feel if the positions were reversed. Oh, and take a look at the laws regulating the minimum wage to be on the safe side.

In the US people love to threaten to sue. It is usually quite silly really. Compare what you paid the programmer to the hourly rate of a lawyer. Yes, hiring someone else to do the work again is an awesome bargain in comparison. Unless you can find a lawyer that will work at the same rate you paid the programmer. Good luck with that.

I do not think hiring a contractor to do some work falls under the employer/employee relationship. Unless you have a contract (or possibly some other form of agreement) with the contractor stipulating that the copyright of the work is to be assigned to you, the copyright (for the code at least) is by default assigned to whoever wrote the code. This probably applies to most of North America / Western Europe. The ideas are still yours if that is any consolation. Well the original ones at least, or perhaps this particular combination of ideas.

I guess you should contact FerruFx.
He is a very professional coder. See if he can help you out.

How did you meet or find the coder?

ALWAYS use MQL5
They have these rules

PS - You have to think things through beforehand.

How much did you pay the coder Less than $100? If it was cheap then just have it coded again?

Ultimately speaking...the code probably doesn't do what you want it to do because this guy has no idea exactly what it is supposed to do...

I've worked with a few coders, by contract and through association...they are fantastic at what they did, but the failure boiled down to the translation of my expectations and the finished product.

Sure the time thing sucks...but really, find a contractor anyplace that does anything on time and you have an exception, not the norm.

Walk away dude...

He isn't stealing anything of value, as it doesn't really do what you want/need it to do anyways.

Find somebody you can work with, free or otherwise and see if you can get what you want to get by what you are willing to lend in logic and fund in cash.

You will inevitably find yourself in a similar situation in that something doesn't work the way you think it will...reason being, because it does what you say, not what you think.

There is a lot more to creating what you want than a few emails and a contract.

If you really want to get serious with this...take up the efforts yourself. This will be the only way you will own your idea, copyright your code and have 100% exclusivity to the whole shooting match.

Failing this, find somebody you can work with, somebody who will work with you and be prepared to spend a lot of money for adaptation and changes.

Sorry for not getting back... ive been swamped with work this week.

I made one last attempt to contact the programmer and this is what i wrote,..

"> ***,
>
> I have given you my specifications and have paid you to do a job for me. The ideas used in this EA are 100% my creation and you have been contracted by me to program this EA FOR ME. This EA is MY PROPERTY and not you nor anyone else have any rights (copyright) or otherwise to it. Im asking you to do the right thing and turn over the MQ4 files to me. You have still yet to complete the project exactly one full month after you accepted payment and agreed to complete the EA in a timely manner. We both know the EA is practically worthless to anyone but me....... i put alot of thought into this and have trusted you to do what i paid you to do. I have done nothing wrong and all im asking at this point is to release the source code to me and let me move on. I will not bother you again after that. Just do the right thing ***... If i i dont get the code in the next 24 hours then i will assume the worst and do what i can to protect myself.
>
> Bill"

(And before people accuse me of cussing him with *** in the email. That is were i used his name and since this is still being worked out i am not giving his name yet. I will post it when its over unless by his actions i am somehow convinced not to... which i highly doubt.)

I received no response and therefor opened a claim with him through paypal ( and yes at least in this instance i was smart enough to use paypal). KInda funny i had been trying to get the bugs ironed out of the EXQ version of this EA by emailing him and got nothing but a "im looking into it" response. Even after i requested the MQ4 files nicely... i got not response. Now this last email that wasnt so nice but still not derogatory in any way... i got no response. Then after following through after receiving nothing for over 24 hours and opening a claim against him now all of the sudden ive gotten two emails from him apologizing and telling me he will fix it and to please close the dispute. I mean seriously do you really think im going to close the dispute before i get the files? I may be too patient and understanding but now its past the point of just working it out. i will update after things get resolved.

And for those that keep mentioning to do the math about how long it takes a programmer to code something and figure out the minimum wage....Like somehow its my fault that he didnt get paid enough. First off i have no idea how long it takes a competent programmer to write an EA. If i knew that then i would probably know how to code it myself. I didnt say i have this EA to code and i am willing to pay this much $$. I told him EXACTLY what i wanted and then paid him exactly what he asked for to get the coding done. What else can i do? I dont know if i overpaid or underpaid and i dont care either way. The cost seemed reasonable to me so i agreed and we made a deal. If this is a money issue then all i know is that he has never once mentioned that he needs more money to finish. Thats not how it works anyway... Im a contractor and i dont get to change the price halfway through the job because its taking me longer than i estimated. If im not sure how long a job will take i either pass on it completely or i bid it high enough that i know i will be covered in a worst case scenario. Having said that ... if the coder had talked to me and explained the situation i would have given him more money if necessary but the guy never once did that. Im not just going to start offering a guy more money when he hasnt even attempted to do what he has agreed to do in the first place. Im not out to screw anyone.. PERIOD. and im also not out to GET screwed. Im a fair and reasonable person and if someone even attempts to treat me the same way then we will never have a problem.

Good to hear that finally you have got a response from this unprofessional/immature coder. I hope the issue gets resolved to your satisfaction.

Thanks... At this point im still pretty skeptical. He offered to give me a "credit" towards any future coding projects that i may have for him in exchange for me closing the claim against him. Im very sure that any future coding projects will not require his services so i think ill pass. lol