I used to work for a company and I designed a website for them pro bono as a favor. I have since been let go. Since I designed the website for them, do I retain ownership of the layout and content or do they? Any help would be appreciated. I don't want them to benefit from all my work and someone else take credit for it. Also, am I able to bill them for the work I've done? There wasn't an agreement or contract stating that I would do it for free. I just put something together and they ask if I'd run with it. Thanks.
I'm not a lawyer :)
In the US, generally when you write code as an employee of a company the company owns the copyright to the code.
Copyright information from the Government here:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#noc
You're right, you're not a lawyer...and neither am I. Are we lucky? :D I did find something useful. According to Copyright law Section 101, the copyright does not belong to the employer. Fortunately for me, the work was not part of my normal work. I worked for an EMS service. Nothing about web development is in my job description. Thanks for the help, man.