Questions about Univeristy IP policy

["Jeffrey R. Galin" <jgalin@xxxxxxx>]

I am new to this list, so I hope my request below is not inappropriate.

I have a couple of questions about revising campus intellectual property
policies.  I'd greatly appreciate some input.  My university has an
opportunity to renegotiate the local union contract, which was once a
statewide contract.  As part of this work, we are revisiting the
intellectual property clause, which underlies our current campus IP policy.
At a previous institution, I chaired an IP committee, which produced a
document with the following general policy:

Our first principle is that works produced by faculty at CSUSB in the course
of normal faculty bargaining unit work will not be considered work-for-hire.
These works include, but are not limited to, scholarly papers, works of art,
syllabi, course contents and material.  Thus, intellectual property rights
for works produced under normal faculty bargaining unit work assignment will
reside solely with the creator of the work except in specific circumstances:
(1) where the creator has been given a specific assignment and university
support to develop work beyond normal work expectations, and (2) where the
university has provided to the creator extraordinary support or
compensation.  In these cases, intellectual property may be solely owned by
the University or jointly owned by both parties as specified in an agreement
reached before the project work is begun. Definitions and guidelines for
these two circumstances are described below.

We are interested in building a case for a similar statement here and have a
few questions about both copyrights and patents.

Concerning works, we wonder:
1) if you are aware of other institutions that make such an explicit
statement about faculty work not being WMFH; and

2) Whether there is some other rationale that universities are using to
claim ownership of traditional works of scholarship, including works of art
that were developed in university studios/labs.

Concerning patents and licences, we wonder:
1) what justification there is for universities to claim ownership of all
patents and inventions, even those not funded by federal money; and

2) what rights universities have to IP that is developed for companies as
work for hire consultants during the summer months when most faculty are not
being paid

I was part of the policy writing committee on campus here as well and am now
helping the faculty union rethink the IP policy.  I'd greatly appreciate any
thoughts you may have.

Cheers,
jrg

Jeffrey R. Galin
Director, University Center for Excellence in Writing
Assistant Director of Writing Programs
Department of English
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Rd.
PO Box 3091-0991
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Jgalin@xxxxxxx
(561) 297-2152