NINCH Town Meeting, University of Oregon
November 19, 2001
Discuss the following issue and draft a short policy statement to reflect the group’s agreement about how to deal with the issue. You will be asked to report for your group.
30 minutes for group work.
1. Assume faculty ownership of copyrighted works such as distance learning courses. If a faculty member develops a course and then leaves the college or university, what should happen? Should the faculty member have sole rights to the course? Does the institution have any rights? Who should have the rights to update the course? Whose name does it carry?
No consensus------but a possible framework:
If single author, little university resources, faculty owns but required to assign to institution limited bundle of use rights
- time frame
- rights to sublicense
- rights to derivative work preparation (update work)
Faculty rights
- portability of course
- author’s name associated with course if faculty wants rights
- monitor course & how it is being used
2. Regardless of the division of ownership rights between faculty and the university, disputes will arise. How should ownership disputes between the institution and a faculty member be handled? What administrative office or faculty/staff group should have or share this responsibility?
Use regular dispute Board
- The person hearing dispute has a Board of advisors from which to draw (special knowledge of intellectual property)
- Person hearing determines what the reasonable needs are of each party involved
- Use regular dispute resolution process for appeals from this decision
3. Assume faculty ownership of copyrighted works they create. What about staff employees? Are their works considered works for hire? Should professional and administrative employees be treated differently than clerical and support staff? Is there a way to provide for negotiations to alter the basic policy in particular situations?
Treat all staff employee works as works for hire
- Except for works created independently, no university resources & not within scope of employment
- University will consider negotiations on a case-by-case basis
* At request of staff
University (or reviewer) will determine if staff need is reasonable
4. If your policy recognizes faculty ownership, how will your institution advise faculty who are required by publishers to transfer their entire copyright in order to have the work published? Will you differentiate between scholarly articles, monographs, textbooks, etc., in the advice? Who will provide the advice?
Advice provided by:
- Large institutions – VP for research
‑ Smaller institutions – Provost or legal counsel
- Generally would be scholarly articles
- Outlets for publications that do not require transfer of the entire copyright: SPARC, Tempe, Associations, etc.
Online publications – recognition for publication online in promotion and tenure policies
5. Assume faculty ownership of the copyright in works they create and college or university ownership of works created by staff members within the course of their employment, i.e., works for hire. How should the institution deal with works created by students either as course assignments or theses and dissertations? If the student collaborates with a faculty member under a grant, who should own the copyright in any resulting works?
In general, student model should follow the faculty model: student ownership
- Course assignments
- Theses & dissertations: consider use of university resources
* Could be extensive use of university resources, but the student must own the data in order to publish the dissertation in order to publish it
* Rights of use to the university
* Rights to the university of any underlying invention
Funding authority may want to own the underlying data
Student/faculty collaborations depends on nature of the collaboration
- If for pay = work for hire by student
- If under grant, faculty and student are working as colleagues, consider use of university resources, share the rights
6. How will your institution educate members of the academic community about copyright? What methods should be used with various constituencies?
Who are the constituencies?
- Varies for art, performing arts, sciencde & technology, etc.
Website for providing general information
- Look at points of use for education, e.g., Center for Teaching & Learning to help faculty understand both use & their own rights
* Departmental committee on libraries to educate
Don’t put the educational materials on copyright in the new faculty handbook
Yearly letter on copyright from the Provost – short
Brown baggers, receptions, open houses – go out to the faculty
- Bring the deans in first
- Then department chairs
- Faculty senate; faculty advisory council
Hide the fact that the issue is copyright – call it something else (?)
Try to adjust the effort to the faculty in an area – hit their interests
Student education is also important
- Use courses (component of information literacy)
- Emphasize that students are also creators of copyrighted works
Departmental executive administrator is the best person to contact (than the department chair)
7. If the basic model is faculty ownership, how should the policy deal with situations in which the college or university has invested exceptional resources in the creation of the copyrighted work? If the model is institutional ownership, should the faculty member have any rights in the work she created with exceptional use of college or university resources? What institutional resources are not considered exceptional? How will exceptional use of resources be determined?
Simple model: ownership should not matter – should be determined by a small group of individuals such as a deans’ council
- faculty retain ownership
* does it matter when multiple people involved in creating the work? (usual circumstance)
* joint authorship could be a model among the faculty members
- grants back to the university irrevocable, nonexclusive right to exercise the § 106 rights
If commercial opportunities arise, parties renegotiate a new license
- irrespective of amount of resources invested by either party
Adaptable to all employees not just faculty
University ownership addressed similarly
Disputes handled by one faculty member, one administrator and a knowledgeable IP person – process to decide when resources are exceptional
8. What model do you think will work best for drafting a copyright policy? Does it differ depending on the type of university or college? Can you suggest models for different types of institutions?
Law faculty member who specializes in intellectual property
Someone from state Attorneys General Office or state Department of Justice
Oregon might come up with a unique model – think outside the box of the seemingly restrictive policy that seems to work okay despite the wording of the policy
Discussion and statement of principles of what the policy should be based upon (include applicable state law, etc.)
Recognize differences in campuses for resources
Be careful about how the policy is going to affect the institution
- Resources the institution will commit to implementation of the policy
Difference between policy and guidelines
- Policy = guiding principle or flagship
- Guidelines can be more detailed