I am completely new to this forum and wish I was entering it on better terms. I have a question that Developers may be able to answer better than anyone else. I apologize if this is the wrong forum to post it in.

I recently paid a development company a large sum of money to create a custom website for me. They are unable to meet the demands of the website anymore and are bleeding me for money every time I need updates done. They will not give me FTp:// Access to the site to make even the most minor of changes. We have a contract that states that all the code etc. is my property and were created exclusively for me. Last week I decided to give control over to another development team to take care of updates etc. They have stated that I do not own the code and I would be given a copy of the site that could be editable. As Developer what do you suggest I do in order to regain control of my website?

Excerpt from contract….

18. All proprietary information furnished hereunder shall remain the property of JOHN DOE, XXXXX COMPANY, owner of WEBSITE, and shall be returned to Him or destroyed promptly at its request together with all copies made thereof by the receiving party.

(I) All products, which include webpages, websites, HTML coding, and/or any and all elements of WEBSITE, as created by DEVELOPER and affiliated parties, including but not limited to, DEVELOPER will be the full property of the discloser, who is JOHN DOE, CEO of XXXXX COMPANY, owner of WEBSITE

Any and all aspects of WEBSITE is the property of JOHN DOE, CEO of XXXXX COMPANY, owner of WEBSITE and will be delivered to Him, by the recipient, who is DEVELOPER, part of DEVELOPER XXX. This property includes, but is not limited to, any and all HTML coding, and all other elements that comprise WEBSITE.