Re: L.Rev (C) Release

On Thu, 4 Nov 1999, Bert R. Boyce <lsboyc[_at_]lsu.edu> wrote:
>
> On 11/3/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
> >
> > I don't see faculty writing as work for hire unless the writing is
> > specifically commissioned. As I understand it, universities do not
> > control their faculty members; research, writing, or related decisions.
> > Faculty are not agents of the universities. They take their names and
> > their copyrights with them when they go. Outside sponsors of research,
> > accounting for 80% of academic research spending, also leave the writing
> > and submission decisions to researchers' sense of the best opportunities
> > for dissemination.
>
> In my experience Universities do believe research performed with
> their support is work made for hire. Their normal policy, however,
> is to waive this right explicitly in favor of the author for literary
> works. They most certainly do not waive for other intellectual
> property including software or patentable devices. As an example of
> what I believe to be typical I have cut in below a section from the
> LSU Board of Supervisors' Bylaws and Regulations. This document is
> available in full at
> <http://appl003.ocs.lsu.edu/ups.nsf/6d1c5eeaf9e258e9862564c20056d8aa/62b387b17724650f8625650f0057a199?OpenDocument,>
> the relevant section being on page 36. Sponsored research rights are
> governed by specific agreement with the funding agency.

If anyone has a copy of their university's rule on the ownership of software written by faculty, I would be very grateful for a copy.

Since time immemorial, or at least the last revision of the faculty manual a couple of decades ago, the University claims patentable stuff, but not copyrightable stuff. Now that software is on the copyright side of the line, the result is that our university currently does not claim ownership of faculty-written software, but wants to. Some people here argue that having a better policy than average will help with hiring of computer science faculty (and we may be hiring a lot soon). It would be helpful to know what the norms are, and especially if there are many other places out there with a policy like our current one.

For some crime in a former life, I am on the relevant committee...

-- 
A. Michael Froomkin   |    Professor of Law    |   froomkin[_at_]law.tm
U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
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