Non-removable copyright text in footer

Question

I am developing a website for a small company and have added the copyright for their company and next to it saying it was designed by my company.

The HTML code:

<p>Copyright © 2012 Teguise Broker | Designed by <?php include 'copyright.php'; ?></p>

The PHP code:

<?php echo "<a href='http://www.my-company.org'>My Company</a>"; ?>

What I want to do is try and make the HTML code non-removable or if they do try to remove it, the page doesn't display. Help would be really appreciated.

Also they have no legal obligation to keep it there UNLESS you stated that in the contract.. Next time, in the contract, specify that your logo must remain unchanged, because there's no way to actually do this in code, but legally you can make sure it stays there if it's in the contract. — DanRedux, Apr 28 '12 at 00:50
I did state it however you know what people are like. lots of them remove copyright and back links even though they shouldnt. This is just to be on the safe side and is also something I can use in future projects. thanks for taking the time to comment ;) — Lodder, Apr 28 '12 at 14:27

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

4

There is no way to absolutely stop them if they have access to the source code. The best you can do is make it difficult for them to remove it. A PHP obfuscator would be the best way to complicate it for them. But see this answer for why you shouldn't bother.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

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answered Apr 28 '12 at 00:50

John Conde

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Indeed... I generally find that making code completely unmaintainable for future maintainers ensures that nobody wants to employ you. It's the kind of reputation dent that spreads around town quite quickly, because you're effectively shafting the customer, forcing them to be tied to you forever. – spender Apr 28 '12 at 00:53
Thank you for your help, Instead I am encoding the whole footer div and adding a function so that if its removed, a message appears. – Lodder Apr 28 '12 at 14:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 28 '12 at 13:28

This is kind of a weird question, but if the client has all the source files, there is no way you can ensure the copyright notice. If you want to be sneaky about it, roll your own copy of jQuery and add a method that checks the existence of the copyright element to work something like this on page load -

function validate() {
    var copy = document.getElementById("copyright");
    if (!copy) {
        var html = document.getElementsByTagName("html")[0];
        var body = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
        html.removeChild(body);
    }
}

But of course, this is a way to drag your reputation through the mud as others have mentioned. I'd argue that positive word of mouth is far more effective than a footer link. If you want to keep the link for SEO or advertising purposes, then offer the client a discount in order to keep the link in place. That way, everyone stays happy.

I did state that the copyright must be left in there and that it would come at an extra cost to have it removed. I just dont like taking chances as I know lots of people who dont give a rats arse about removing back links and copyright notices when they shouldn't. Thank you aswell for taking the time to comment. much appreciated. — Lodder, Apr 28 '12 at 14:30

Non-removable copyright text in footer

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