Who actually owns the Crestron Program in your house?
Who actually owns the Crestron Program in your house?
This has been a sore subject that many stay away from, a few years back an industry magazine wrote an article where they interviewed both sides of the issue (with no defined answer). One side contends that the programmer owns it, arguing it is their “Intellectual Knowledge”, the other side (myself included) say the client owns it.
Who actually owns the Crestron Program in your house?
This has been a sore subject that many stay away from, a few years back an industry magazine wrote an article where they interviewed both sides of the issue (with no defined answer). One side contends that the programmer owns it, arguing it is their “Intellectual Knowledge”, the other side (myself included) say the client owns it.
From my perspective, in over 30 years I know that we have never installed the same system twice, meaning that a program that was used last year, last week or yesterday wouldn’t work in any system that we would put together today. Also, we are compensated for the time our programmers spend developing each system, we do believe the client owns the system he paid for as well as the programming files.
Now with all that said, why is this an issue? Let me try to put this into a typical set of scenarios.
1. Client sells house with advertised “Smart System” be it Lutron, Crestron, AMX, Savant, etc…and new buyer has his “Own Guy” that he has worked with for years. We have been in both positions (liking the one that brings us in of course).
2. Client feels he is not getting the service he needs in a timely manner and wants to have someone new take over.
From the camp of Programmers /Installers that follow the philosophy of “Intellectual Knowledge” neither Scenario works out for the actual person that paid for the system. Receiving the call that the client wants the Programming files or “Code” as some call it is never a good feeling, we never like to lose a client for any reason.
If you are interviewing different Installers we recommend asking point blank (Will I Own the Program Files when you are finished?) . Someday this may be important.
Realizing that this is a Relationship like being married may help one make the best choice in selecting just the right person for your Home System.
Hope this is useful
