Ownership of electronic course materials in higher education

Abstract

The introduction of sophisticated information technology to higher education is now forcing faculty and administrators to reexamine the traditional allocations of ownership interests in course materials. This article has been prepared to alert educators and administrators in higher educational institutions to the issues surrounding ownership of electronic course materials. In particular, the article focuses on the allocation of copyright ownership in electronic course materials as between faculty and their sponsoring institutions. While copyright laws vary somewhat from country to country, basic ownership issues will be common to nearly all copyright regimes. Drawing on US copyright law as an example, the article briefly reviews relevant copyright basics, the work made for hire doctrine, and options for contractual allocations of copyright. The article concludes by laying out a series of criteria that should be considered in formulating an institution’s intellectual property policy.

Citation

Burk, D.L. (1998), "Ownership of electronic course materials in higher education", Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 142-147. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650749810237494