Partnership break-up
Out of context: Reply #15
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- monNom0
When you dissolve a partnership, the remaining partners have to buy out the other partner. That's just how it works.
Your source files are essentially the capital the business needs to run, so there is a lot of value in them. They are productive assets like the tools at a mechanics, or the source-code for Windows.
I'd say they are worth at least the cost of reproducing them from scratch, as if they don't buy you out, that's exactly what they'll have to do. (IE: they can choose to forgo buying you out of your assets if they don't want to, but they would have a tough time maintaining the client).
As the author, you hold full rights to your work unless you've signed some of those away. Without a contract, none of your rights would transfer into the partnership by default, just like the money in your bank account wouldn't magically transfer in. You need to explicitly transfer rights and capital into the partnership, otherwise it is yours.
Your partners wouldn't be anywhere without you producing the product, no matter if they brought you the business or not. That's why they needed a partner in the first place. Don't let them talk down your contribution to the enterprise, and DO expect appropriate compensation for your original works, know-how, and the productive assets created while within the partnership.