Licensing web application code?

Question

Law in IT

Hello habralyudi.
An unpleasant situation arose - a programmer who developed a web application as part of my order goes to work for direct competitors. Naturally, as it always happens, no contracts were previously concluded with him and no licenses for the code were issued. The programmer swears that the developments on the existing project will not be used and he will write completely different applications for the competitor, but I would still prefer to have some kind of legal protection (and I don’t believe that the competitor hired him for other projects) . What can be done in this case? Would code licensing help? If yes, what type of license should I choose?
There was a preliminary agreement with the programmer that I place his copyrights in the form of a link to his blog on the application website (by which, by the way, a competitor came to him), and he does not sell or distribute the code and its fragments, and also does not writes analogues for competitors.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You conclude an agreement (in writing) with the programmer on the alienation of exclusive rights to the product in your favor. And, if the amount of code allows, attach code listings to the contract. If not, then you can file a listing of the directory with the checksums of each file (with a mandatory indication of the algorithm used and, preferably, a specific calculation tool).
True, it is relatively easy to find out about a violation of your rights only by clientside, you simply won’t know what a competitor will spin on the server.

Answer 2

90% if he will write something for a competitor, then rather a different version, taking into account all the accumulated experience. Type "version 2.0"

Answer 3

put it under gpl

Answer 4

If the code was written for money and you paid, then he is the author, but you are the copyright holder. Regardless of license.
Better yet, ask a lawyer for advice. The consultation will not be expensive. Especially if you post your question on any legal forum.

Answer 5

Well, in fact, in the same way, a programmer can license the code himself, but there were no agreements with him, and he wrote the code himself and evidence in the form of version control system logs or something else he probably will have. So I don't think licensing will help.