--- title: "Do you own the code to your website?" description: "Paying for a site does not by itself transfer the copyright. What the Swedish rule actually says, and the four things to hold before you sign." url: https://torn.studio/en/insights/owning-your-website locale: en published: 2026-08-28 --- # Do you own the code to your website? > **Short answer:** You own the code to your website when the contract says so. Swedish copyright law transfers a computer program to the employer only where an employee wrote it; a commissioned agency keeps the rights while a written assignment is missing. Ask for the transfer clause, the repository, the domain and the hosting account before you sign. The assumption is reasonable: we commissioned the site, we paid the invoice, so it is ours. Copyright simply does not work that way, and the difference only shows up on the day you want to change supplier. ## Do I own the code to my website? You own it if the contract says you do. Buying a service does not transfer copyright on its own, so the question is settled in the contract text. Where it says nothing about rights, you have bought a licence of undefined scope — which holds up fine until the day you want to do something the supplier says no to. ## What the law actually says Swedish copyright law carries a special rule for computer programs in section 40 a: where an employee wrote the program as part of their duties, copyright passes to the employer, absent agreement to the contrary. No equivalent presumption covers a supplier engaged on commission. An agency or freelancer therefore keeps the rights to what they wrote until a written assignment says otherwise. That is Swedish law. If you build with a supplier in another country, that country’s rules and the contract’s choice-of-law clause govern, so check both before relying on this paragraph. ## Four things to own, beyond the code - The repository, with its full history — a zip file is a snapshot of work - The domain, registered to your company and nobody else’s - The hosting and deployment account, with an administrator on your side - Measurement and content: the analytics property, the images, the right to use them The domain is the one that most often ends up in the wrong name, and the one that does the most damage. A domain registered to the agency turns every future negotiation into a negotiation about the domain. ## Can I take my site to another agency? That is decided by the technology, long before the relationship. A site built on a framework thousands of developers know is portable even when the engagement ends badly. A site built on a bespoke system only one supplier understands is locked in even when everybody is friendly. ## What makes a site genuinely portable - A common framework a new supplier recognises within a day - All code in git, history intact and commit messages legible - Content in the repository, or in a system that can export it - A build step that runs on any machine - Environment variables and integrations documented in one place ## How it works here The rights are yours from day one, so the handover covers something you already own. You get the repository with all code and content, the documentation, and a walkthrough of how to run the site. What a build costs sits on the [pricing page](https://torn.studio/en/pricing), and what it includes is described under [websites](https://torn.studio/en/services/websites). Ask every supplier to answer the same four points in writing, and the difference shows before the contract is signed. **Read next** - [How to choose a web agency in 2026](https://torn.studio/en/insights/how-to-choose-a-web-agency) - [AI website builder or an agency?](https://torn.studio/en/insights/ai-website-builder-vs-agency) ## Common questions ### Does paying the invoice transfer the copyright? No. The payment buys what the service says it buys, and the rights follow the contract text. With no assignment clause you probably hold a licence whose scope nobody has defined, and that question only turns sharp when you want to change supplier or build on it yourselves. ### What should the contract actually say about rights? That copyright in what is produced under the engagement passes to you on full payment, that you may use and modify it freely, and what applies to the supplier’s own standard components. That last point is the one most often forgotten, and the one that chafes later. ### Whose name should the domain be registered in? Your own company, with you as the administrative contact. A domain registered to the agency turns every future discussion into a discussion about the domain. Check the registry for what it actually says, because it matches what people remember surprisingly poorly. ### What makes a website hard to move to another supplier? A bespoke system only the supplier understands, a build step that needs their machine, content that exists only in their database, and undocumented integrations. Each is a technical detail at the start and a negotiating position at the end. ### Can I get the code out if the agency stops responding? Only if you already have it. That is why the requirement is that the code lives in a repository your organisation owns, with the agency invited in. A supplier who goes quiet is then a staffing problem, and the work can continue with someone else the same week. ### Do the rules look the same outside Sweden? They differ. Several countries carry similar presumptions for employees but different rules for commissioned suppliers, and the contract’s choice-of-law clause decides which regime applies. If you engage a supplier in another country, that is the question to ask first. ## Sources - [Lag (1960:729) om upphovsrätt till litterära och konstnärliga verk](https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-1960729-om-upphovsratt-till-litterara-och_sfs-1960-729/) — The rule in section 40 a that copyright in a computer program written by an employee within their duties passes to the employer, absent agreement to the contrary. - [Lagen.nu — Lag (1960:729) om upphovsrätt, annotated](https://lagen.nu/1960:729) — That the section 40 a presumption applies to employment relationships, and that a commissioned supplier’s rights pass by agreement.