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Copyright Policy Procedures

Contents:

Introduction
Authority to Act for the President
University Intellectual Property Committee
Procedure for Identifying Ownership of Copyrights
Rights with Outside Agencies
Royalty Allocation
Use of Works Copyrighted by the University

I. Introduction

These procedures implement the Copyright Policy established by the Board of Visitors. Certain terms used in these procedures are defined in Section V of the Copyright Policy.

II. Authority to Act for the President

The authority to act for the President in all matters involving intellectual property including copyrights and patents, including the making of contracts and the waiving or assigning of University rights is hereby delegated to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Research ("The Vice Provost").

III. University Intellectual Property Committee

The Vice Provost will be advised by a University Intellectual Property Committee ("the Committee") elected by the Research Advisory Committee. The Committee will consist of five faculty members actively involved in intellectual property matters. The Vice Provost will chair the Committee and will be a non-voting participant in all Committee deliberations. All Committee terms are rotating for three years; the members may be reappointed.

The Committee's duties will include:

  • To recommend whether the University has a proprietary interest in a faculty-authored work, and, if so, to what extent, should the faculty authors and the Vice Provost disagree;
  • To recommend the relative shares in the work of faculty co-authors, should the faculty co-authors and the Vice Provost disagree;
  • To recommend whether to apply for a copyright and/or market the work, should the faculty authors and the Vice Provost disagree;
  • To make recommendations on matters of obsolescence as provided in Section VII, below, should the faculty authors and the Vice Provost disagree; and
  • To make recommendations on all matters pertaining to copyright not resolved by this procedure statement and to recommend modifications of the Copyright Policy that may be appropriate.

IV. Procedure for Identifying Ownership of Copyrights

Each faculty member shall report to his or her chair any projects that might be subject to copyright. The chair of each department (or the Dean in the case of those schools/colleges without a departmental structure) in consultation with the collegiate dean shall forward a list of projects possibly subject to copyright to the Vice Provost with a recommendation concerning which items the University may wish to claim. The Vice Provost, following any necessary consultation with the Intellectual Property Committee, shall prepare a final recommendation for the President regarding University interests. If the President waives the University rights to a project, then so long as that project does not alter substantially in scope, the University will have no later claim. This process shall be completed within 90 days following the faculty member's report.

V. Rights with Outside Agencies

Terms of a grant from or contract with an outside agency allocating copyrights or specifying a right to require publication without copyright are binding on the faculty author and the University, only if contract or grant is approved by the University in advance.

VI. Royalty Allocation

In the usual case where a copyright is owned by the University and net proceeds from royalties are to be shared with the author(s), an appropriate sharing of these proceeds would be as follows:

  • The first $1,000 of proceeds to the author;
  • Half of the proceeds above $1,000 to the author and the other half to the University.

If more than one faculty member is an author of a work or a part thereof, the share of proceeds which this paragraph allocates to the author will be shared among such co-authors as they shall determine.

In cases where the University incurs litigation costs in defending the copyright against infringement, such costs will be deducted from income before any royalties are distributed. If such costs are incurred after the distribution of royalties have commenced, the author will be held harmless for any royalties already received.

VII. Use of Works Copyrighted by the University

The University will make all reasonable efforts to consult with the author of a work, the copyright of which vests in the University, before any use is made of the work within the University or any license for its use outside the University is granted.

If the University fails to make progress toward obtaining a copyright (and marketing such copyright) of a faculty-authored work owned by the University within a period of 18 months, the faculty member may formally make a written request to the University Intellectual Property Committee, that the ownership of the materials pass to the author.

Faculty-authored works owned by the University may be reviewed by the author after five years for obsolescence. If he considers the materials to be obsolete, he has the right to refer the matter to the Vice Provost, with recommendation for disposal of the material.

8/23/89

 



RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION