Re: L.Rev (C) Release

On Thu, Nov 04, 1999, Mark Lemley <mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 3 Nov 1999, 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.
> >
> *******
>
> Yes, but unfortunately we are pretty clearly employees acting in the
> scope of our employment. That is enough to trigger work-for-hire
> status under the 1976 Act, unless the non-statutory "teacher
> exception" is thought to apply.

Or something else might also apply: At the University of Washington here in Seattle, the code governing faculty and professional staff explicitly exempts these kinds of things from University ownerships (but does not do the same for inventions!). So, you also have to check the governing "employment" documents.

I personally think that faculty are hired to teach, research and write and that their works could easily be works for hire.

Harold Federow
Legal Counsel
BSQUARE Corporation
(425) 519-5270
<haroldf[_at_]bsquare.com> Received on Fri Nov 05 1999 - 18:21:52 GMT