Building the Product

How do I make sure I actually own the code my freelancer writes?

A starting point

Get a signed agreement with an explicit "work made for hire" and IP-assignment clause before any code is written, because in many jurisdictions the developer owns what they create by default. Insist on your own repository and cloud accounts (GitHub, AWS, domain) in your name, and add the developer as a collaborator, never the reverse. If they push code only to their machine or their account, you own nothing you can walk away with.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked Read Use

Read

📄 Article
✓ Link checked India Free Beginner

Why we picked it This lays out the one fact most first-time founders get wrong: under Indian copyright law your freelancer owns the code they write unless they assign it to you in writing, so no clause means no ownership. It walks through the exact assignment language you need and a smart safeguard of tying the transfer to full payment. It is written for the Indian legal context, not lifted from a US template, which is why it fits a founder here better than the generic explainers.

Freelancer Agreement in India: IP, Ownership and the Clauses That Actually Bind

From iPleaders (blog.ipleaders.in) by iPleaders ~20 min read

  • By default in India the freelancer, as author, owns the copyright in the code; without a signed written assignment you get only a limited licence, not ownership.
  • The contract needs an explicit IP assignment (or work-for-hire) clause; a handshake or an invoice does not transfer ownership.
  • Tying the IP transfer to full payment protects both sides and gives you a clean, enforceable chain of ownership.
Open blog.ipleaders.in →

Use

🛠️ Tool
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it A contract clause is your legal safeguard, but the practical one is making sure the repo lives under an account you control from day one. This is GitHub's own guide to creating an organization, a shared account that owns the repositories while your freelancer joins as a member with access you can revoke. Do this before the first commit and you never have to chase code that sits in a contractor's personal account.

About organizations

From GitHub Docs by GitHub ~10 min read

  • An organization is a shared account that owns the repositories, separate from any individual's personal account, so the code belongs to the org and not to your freelancer.
  • You add the freelancer as a member with a specific role and can remove that access the moment the engagement ends.
  • Organizations are free to start on GitHub, so there is no reason to let a contractor host your codebase under their own login.
Open docs.github.com →
📋 Template
✓ Link checked India Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is a ready-to-fill IP assignment and confidentiality agreement hosted on the government's own Startup India portal, so it is drafted for Indian law and free to use. It gives a non-lawyer the actual assignment and confidentiality language to adapt for a developer and get signed. Treat it as a starting point: it is written employer to employee, so swap the party labels for a contractor engagement and, ideally, have a lawyer glance at the final version.

Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Assignment Agreement Template (India)

From Startup India (startupindia.gov.in) by Startup India (Invest India) 6-page fillable template

  • A complete, fillable IP assignment plus confidentiality template with blanks for the parties, drafted for the Indian context.
  • Comes from the official Startup India (Invest India) portal, so it is a credible free base rather than a random web template.
  • Framed employee to employer, so adapt the party terms for a freelancer and, when the code really matters, run the final draft past a lawyer.
Open startupindia.gov.in →

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