Hi Paul,

<snip>

>If a client asked you to assign them all rights, first off would you?

Depents on the relationship. If the client pays by the hour of development work
I generally agree to this. On stuff with a fixed price it is a matter of
negotiation.

There are also 2 levels of rights the client can want. Exclusive and
non-exclusive.
I am of course much more inclined to agree to the latter then the former.

>If you did, would you bill them extra for those rights, and how do
>you determine how much to charge, a percentage of the project cost, a
>flat fee per right, or a flat fee for all rights.

It's generally included in my hourly rate. Otherwise I do a percentage cost.

>How much would you charge them. Please feel free to reply to me
>privately if you wish.

If it is a "fixed package" that is sold to more then one client and not a
custom job
I would start by calculating the total cost of development. Then I'd add a
premium to
that: 30-100%. If the rights are exclusive more then that. If it's a very
good product and
the customer would buy a lot of "seats" I of course make sure that the
total is at
least 100% above what it would cost him in regular licensing if that is
below the deveopment
cost + premium.

On a custom job I am generally more willing to do this, especially if it is
non-exclusive.
I also add on a premium of 10-50%, depending on the circumstances (an
emotinal thing I admit).
For exclusive right's I'd charge the "fixed package" cost above.
If I do exclusive development I am sure to have a special clause that only
gives non exclusive rights
to libraries and routines I use in lots of programs.

These are just general guidelines, some cases are very different. In
summary, be aware of the possible
consequences of your decision and in that context charge what you feel
comfortable with (both up and down).
Also be sure to inform your customer of all the sources that you can't
grant rights to and that he will
have to acquire seperatly (VCL, IBO, etc...) but need to compile the program.

And what Daniel Rail said I also want to emphasize: Get everything in
writeing and only sign what you
feel good with.

Regards,
Chris