In that situation, I believe a contractor could put a lien on the property until they receive their agreed upon compensation.
I’ve been wondering about my work on Reddit. I’ve spent countless hours on graphics and CSS, and configuring automod. I have quite a few tiny subs and got a notice to “open up or else” on one of them.
From what I’m hearing, the admins can restore posts, but can they restore all the graphics and coding? And wouldn’t that belong to the creator? Would a lien or some kind of copyright exist for all of that?
Don’t think so. From the TOS:
IANAL, but that reads to me like you’ve licensed your CSS and graphics to Reddit. Most other social media companies have similar language in their TOS.
I’m not saying it’s right; I’m just saying that’s where I think you are legally. You should talk to a lawyer if you’re interested in going down the path of litigation.