Intellectual property

Copyright for Academics in the Digital Age

When faculty members consider copyright in the digital age, it is often in relation to things we can’t (or shouldn’t) do. For example, we can’t have too much material placed in online reserve, we can’t scan journal articles to create digital versions of what used to be called “course packs,” and we can’t post an excerpt from a work of scholarship on our blogs without appropriate permissions.

Sue U.

“What business are we in?” Christie Hefner—president, chair, and CEO of Playboy Enterprises from 1988 through 2009—challenged attendees at the 2012 annual meeting of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), being held just outside of Disneyland, to ask themselves this deceptively simple question. While Playboy’s business no doubt would make Mickey Mouse blush, Hefner’s question to those on the front lines of the university patenting and licensing community bears studied reflection by a much wider audience.

Resources on Copyright, Distance Education, and Intellectual Property

AAUP Policy Statements, Reports, & Analysis 

Statement on Copyright. 1999.

Statement on Distance Education. 1999.

Intellectual Property Issues for Faculty

Intellectual Property Legal Issues For Faculty
By Ann Springer, Associate Counsel
November 2004

"Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet."
—Mark Twain's Notebook, 1902-1903

I. Introduction

A. Copyright law is a complicated, somewhat circular and amorphous mixture of fact and law.

B. Copyright law applies to many more aspects of daily life as an academic than most recognize.

Statement on Copyright

Statement explaining faculty members’ basic rights of ownership of their intellectual property, prevailing academic practice, and exceptions in which colleges and universities may fairly claim full or partial ownership of works created by faculty members.

Washington state's "Freedom to Innovate" Act Fails to Advance

The AAUP-supported legislation is effectively dead for the 2013 legislative session, having failed to pass out of the Senate Higher Education Committee prior to cut-off.

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