License which allows internal use of source code only

Question

I have recently written an application on per-contract base for a company. The deal was that they get the binary and the source code - so in case of small changes / improvements they can do it on their own.

On the other hand I don't want them to redistribute neither source nor the binaries. As I'm having full trust in the people there we didn't have set up any details on which license was used.

If I want to have a legal guarantee which license would I use? Or is this just a special case that I had to setup something completely new?

Answer 1

There's no standard licenses out there, because this isn't a open source product so much as an "intrasource" one.

Answer 2

I don't think you need a separate license per se. If I see it correctly, you basically did some work as a contractor - your contract should cover the terms and conditions for use and redistribution.

A separrate software licence would make more sense if you're selling this of the shelf to many different parties and you do not have separate engagements/ contracts with those parties.

Answer 3

The terms should have been spelled out in the contract. If terms weren't otherwise specified, the code would most likely be considered a "work for hire" with ownership transferring to the customer.

Answer 4

The "default" license is that whoever writes the code has the copyright (and can say who does what with it), unless the programmer is an employee of a company. Sounds like they've got a non-exclusive source license, unless they negotiated something stronger ahead of time. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice :) Read this: Software and Application Development Agreements: Protect Your Copyright

Developers own the copyright to software unless the developer is the client's employee or the software is part of a larger work made for hire under a written agreement. In order to own the copyright, the client must have an agreement transferring ownership from the developer to the client.