Administration
Board of Trustees Policy
SUBJECT:
Copyright Ownership
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NUMBER:
5.11
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DATE:
June 19, 2006
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SUPERSEDES:
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Purpose
Montgomery County Community College (the “College”)
desires to contribute to the vast body of public knowledge through
the research and scholarship of its employees. Everyone associated
with the College is encouraged to engage in the free exchange and
expression of ideas, to explore new frontiers of scholarship and
to expand the boundaries of knowledge. This Copyright Policy of
the College is intended to promote these goals.
For purposes of this Copyright Policy, “College Employees”
will include (a) all faculty and staff, whether full time or part
time, and (b) students, and student workers , whether compensated
or not. The term “Author”, as used in this Copyright
Policy, shall refer to the individual creator of a work.
Policy
Works Protected by Copyright Law
United States copyright law protects original works of authorship
fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyrighted material includes,
but is not limited to, books, articles, lecture notes, music, movies,
computer software, artwork and other literary works. Copyright law
does not protect ideas, facts, processes, methods of operation,
concepts or principles, although it does protect the original expression
of particular ideas, facts and concepts.
Copyright law affords the copyright owner the exclusive right to
do and to authorize others to do the following five things: (a)
reproduce the copyrighted work; (b) make derivative works based
upon the original copyrighted work; (c) distribute copies of the
copyrighted work; (d) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic
and choreographed works and motion pictures and other audiovisual
works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; and (e) in the
case of literary, musical, dramatic and choreographed works and
pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, to display the copyrighted
work publicly (collectively, the “Exclusive Rights”).
All employees are required to comply with the various laws that
pertain to copyright use, creation and ownership. To assist, copyright
guidelines for employees are located in the Montgomery County Community
College Copyright Guidelines Handbook, which is available to all
employees, and located in the sections below. Questions about copyright
matters should be directed to the Director of Library Services,
who in turn may consult the attorney for the College. Training will
be made available regularly to employees and led by the Director
of Library Services and coordinated through the Center for Teaching
and Learning either at the discretion of the administration or at
the request of the employee(s).
Coexistence With the Patent Policy
This Copyright Policy deals only with the use and ownership of
copyrightable materials. Methods, products, processes and other
inventions that are potentially patentable and that are conceived
or developed by College Employees and others in the course of their
teaching or research are covered by the College’s Invention
and Patent Policy (the “Patent Policy”). To the extent
that any provision of this Copyright Policy conflicts with any provision
of the Patent Policy, the terms of the Patent Policy shall control.
To the extent that some materials created at the College are both
patentable and copyrightable, the terms of the Patent Policy shall
govern the intellectual property rights in such works.
Ownership of Copyrightable Material
- Ownership by College Employees. Generally, in the non-academic
arena, any copyrightable works that are created by an employee in
the furtherance of his or her employment are owned, as a matter
of law, by his or her employer. In the academic arena, however,
it is customary for colleges, universities and other educational
institutions to relinquish any claims that they may have in and
to the works created by their employees. Under this Copyright Policy,
except in those circumstances described in Article IV, Paragraphs
B and C hereof, the College hereby relinquishes all claims of ownership
to the copyright in and to any works created by College Employees,
and hereby assigns, transfers and conveys any copyright in and to
those works that the College may own to their respective Authors.
- Ownership by the College. Where the College commissions a copyrightable
work to be created by a College Employee, and the College and the
College Employee producing the work agree in writing prior to that
the copyright to such work is to be owned by the College and/or
that the copyright to such work is assigned and transferred to the
College, the College will own the copyright in and to such work.
- Ownership by Third Parties. Where the copyrightable work results
from a grant or other financing provided by or through the United
States or any state or local government, the ownership of such works
will be governed by the terms of the applicable grant or contract
under which the financing was provided. If there is no such document,
or if such document does not address the issue of ownership, then
the ownership of the copyrightable work shall be determined in accordance
with the terms of this Copyright Policy.
Control Over Copyrightable Works
- Where the College Relinquishes Copyright Ownership. In cases
where the College relinquishes copyright ownership of a work in
favor of the Author, as described in Article IV, Paragraph A of
this Copyright Policy, the Author shall have all rights thereto
including the Exclusive Rights associated with the copyright ownership
in such work and the right to commercialize the copyrighted work.
- Where the College Retains Copyright Ownership. In cases where
the College retains copyright ownership of a work, as described
in Article IV, Paragraph B of this Copyright Policy, the College
shall be entitled to exercise any and all of the Exclusive Rights
associated with the ownership of such copyrighted work, including
the right to commercialize the copyrighted work. Should the College
receive any royalties or other payments on account of its commercialization
of the copyrighted work, it shall distribute such royalties in accordance
with the royalty payment schedule set forth in the Patent Policy,
unless the College and the Author agree to a different arrangement
in the writing between the College and the Author.
- This Copyright Policy is not intended to diminish with the long-standing
tradition at the College for College Employees to share and disseminate
their works, ideas and scholarship with and among their colleagues.
This sharing of knowledge is understood by all College Employees
to be an integral part of the College’s mission and should
continue to be encouraged.
- Disputes. If a dispute should arise with respect to the ownership
of the copyright in a work between the College and any College Employee,
such dispute shall be presented to and resolved by the Committee
in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Patent Policy.
The Committee shall consist of the following individuals.
Vice President of Information Technology
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost
Vice President for Administration and Finance
One Faculty member from each Division
