Own Products and Client Work, Kept Apart

The Arrangement in Brief

ZEVORA ENTERPRISE has two separate sources of work, and the difference between them decides who owns what.

One is publishing: writing business applications that we own, then running and maintaining them ourselves.

The other is commissioned work: custom software development, application management, website development, mobile application development, digital advertising management and user acquisition services sold to other businesses.

An application ZEVORA ENTERPRISE owns is provided to its users by ZEVORA ENTERPRISE, which carries the responsibility for it.

An application a client owns is provided to its users by that client. ZEVORA ENTERPRISE only performs the development, management and advertising work the client has asked for.

The Same Task Carries Different Responsibility

A hypothetical makes the difference clearer than a definition. Say a defect turns up in an application ZEVORA ENTERPRISE publishes itself. The defect, the fix, the release and the apology to users all belong to us.

Now say the same defect turns up in an ordering application a distributor owns. Writing the fix is our work. Deciding when it ships, and answering to the people who use the application, stays with the distributor.

Advertising follows the same split. On our own applications we are the advertiser and we pay for the campaigns ourselves. On a client’s product the client is the advertiser, whoever happens to be adjusting the campaign settings.

Ownership Is Settled in Writing

ZEVORA ENTERPRISE handles two kinds of application: its own, and those owned by clients.

Responsibility for an application ZEVORA ENTERPRISE owns lies with ZEVORA ENTERPRISE alone.

A client who hires ZEVORA ENTERPRISE for development, management or advertising work keeps ownership of the product, and only a signed written agreement could change that.

What This Model Leaves Out

• Taking ownership of a client’s code, brand, store listing or domain by default. Any transfer needs a written agreement.
• Publishing a client’s product under our name, or one of ours under a client’s.
• Treating work on a product as a claim to its users, its data or its revenue.