Western Nevada College Policies

Policy 4-1-7: Intellectual Property Rights

WNC Policy 4-1-7
Procedure:	Intellectual Property Rights
Policy No.:	4-1-7
Department:	Human Resources/General Counsel
Contact:	Vice President for Human Resources and General Counsel

Intent of Policy
This Policy May Be Superseded When:
Clarification of Intellectual Property Rights to Specific Works
Procedure for Appeal of Ownership

Section 1: Intent of Policy
- A. This policy is created to preserve an atmosphere of respect, creativity, and innovation for faculty, staff, and students who are employed by or attend Western Nevada College and will:
  - 1. Agree with existing, traditional and legal protections of copyright for scholars, artists, and creators of original works
  - 2. Expand upon and agree with existing NSHE policy (Title 4, Chapter 12) in order to clarify and specify protections for intellectual property
  - 3. Support a spirit of collaboration and sharing for the purpose of institutional effectiveness and excellence
  - 4. Guide in the commercial use of intellectual property not defined as traditional scholarly or otherwise traditionally protected creative work
  - 5. Inform faculty, staff, and the college of rights to creative work produced in the course of employment or sabbatical.

Section 2: This Policy May Be Superseded When:
- A. Agreements through federal, state, or local government grants alter the legal ownership of intellectual property
- B. Agreements through non-profit, non-government, or private entities alter the legal ownership of intellectual property
- C. This policy is amended by the specific terms of a contract that clearly designate particular intellectual property as work for hire, or that otherwise alter the ownership of intellectual property.

Section 3: Clarification of Intellectual Property Rights to Specific Works
- A. Rights that Remain Solely with their Creator
  - 1. The intellectual property rights of original scholarly, pedagogical, and creative works, whether created by faculty, professional staff, or students, shall belong to their creator(s).
  - 2. Scholarly, pedagogical, and creative works will hereby include, but not be limited to instructional materials (such as course syllabi, textbooks, instructional multimedia materials, recorded lectures, instructional web files, quizzes, and exams), journal articles, research bulletins, monographs, literary works (plays, poems, stories, etc.), works of art (pictorial, graphic, sculptural, etc.), computer software, sound recordings, and musical compositions.
  - 3. These works will also include:
    - a. Scholarly, pedagogical, or creative works produced with usual facilitative resources available for the purpose of supporting normal instruction, creative efforts, scholarly activities, or course development, including library resources, instructional technology (such as recording tools, computer networks and storage), and support staff
    - b. Scholarly, pedagogical, or creative works that make use of a desktop computer and/or software purchased to support general instructional and scholarly activity.
  - 4. Additional rights retained by the creator or author of the work:
    - a. The individual has exclusive right to allow or disallow the use of their intellectual property in part or in whole by others
      i. This will not prevent instructors from requiring students to share their original work in peer groups, as part of a performance, or in the course of other classroom activities
      ii. This will not prevent copies of student work from being retained anonymously, or in a confidential file, for comparative purposes among faculty and staff.
    - b. The individual retains the exclusive rights to market or otherwise release or use the work outside of Western Nevada College, in whole or in part, in a manner that does not interfere with the individual's current employment or duties at the college.
  - 5. Portability (applicable only to works owned by the creator, as stipulated above):
    - a. Upon the individual's departure from employment by the college, the college forfeits all rights to use the work or any components of intellectual property of the individual unless permission is otherwise granted in writing by the individual.
- B. Rights that Remain Solely with the Institution
  - 1. The intellectual property rights of institutional works shall belong to Western Nevada College and include:
    - a. Works produced by a student as assigned duty during the course of student employment and created during designated work hours
    - b. Works produced by professional staff as assigned duty during the course of employment and created during designated work hours (excluding works specified in section 3-A)
    - c. Policies or procedures produced as institutional documents by faculty, staff, or student employees
    - d. Works produced under the terms of a contract that specify institutional ownership rights.
    - e. Works that are produced by any person with significant use of college resources
      i. Not otherwise defined in section 3-A as "usual facilitative resources"
      ii. See section 3-C for details about rights pertaining to sabbatical, overload pay, and release time.
  - 2. Portability (applicable only to works owned by the institution, as stipulated above):
    - a. Upon the departure of the individual from employment at the college, the individual forfeits all rights to use or market the work or any components of the intellectual property unless permission is otherwise granted in writing by the college. The college retains exclusive right to use and revise the work and to market it outside the college.
- C. Rights that are Shared
  - 1. Exclusive intellectual property rights to works completed for assigned duties by student and professional employees, but developed using a majority of personal resources (using any 65% of personal time), will remain with the author/creator. The institution will retain rights to continue using the work, but all future rights (commercial or otherwise) return to the author/creator. Student and professional employees who want to protect the intellectual property rights of said works, will be responsible for maintaining records of personal time committed to the work, along with normally assigned work hours devoted to the work. The student or professional employee will then submit a claim for those rights to the Intellectual Property Committee, providing clear evidence of a majority of personal time devoted to the work.
  - 2. Additionally, joint rights if any, will be specified in a contract between the institution and the creator of a specific work. The contract will be agreed upon and signed by both parties before work begins. Joint rights may apply, as specified in contracts for work:
    - a. developed during release time that has been allocated specifically for said work
    - b. developed during a sabbatical that has been allocated specifically for said work
    - c. developed specifically in exchange for overload pay.
  - 3. If no joint rights are specified, then the author or creator of the work (who has received overload pay, release time, or sabbatical) will retain all rights over the work, as detailed in section 3-A.
  - 4. With joint ownership, the creator or author:
    - a. Has the exclusive right to market the course outside the college in a manner that does not conflict or interfere with the individual's current employment or duties at the college;
    - b. Has the right to be informed in advance of any uses, reproductions, distributions, and dispositions of the work by the college.
  - 5. With joint ownership, the college
    - a. Has the right to borrow portions of the work for use in compilations or other composite works
    - b. Has the right to make derivative works if the author or authors assign copyright ownership to a third party.
  - 6. Portability (applicable only to shared works as stipulated above):
    - a. Rights of the individual following the individual's departure from the college: Exclusive right to market or use the work provided the college's name or image is not used in connection with the work, except as may be otherwise provided in a contract between the institution and the creator
    - b. Rights of the college following the individual's departure from the college: Non-exclusive right to use the work without the creator's consent. This right will remain completely within the college and shall not be transferred to any other institution or entity. No other party will have the right to use the work, in part or whole, outside of the college.

Section 4: Procedure for Appeal of Ownership
- A. In the event that an author or creator disputes the ownership or rights of a work, that author or creator will submit a written appeal.
  - 1. Written Notice
    - a. The author or creator will submit a written appeal to his or her division chair or direct supervisor and to the Intellectual Property Committee.
  - 2. Recommendation of Ownership
    - a. The Intellectual Property Committee will make its recommendation about ownership of the disputed work to the College President within 60 days of receiving the written appeal.
  - 3. President's Determination
    - a. The College President will decide ownership of the disputed work within 30 days of receiving the recommendation of the Intellectual Property Committee.

Date Adopted and Dates Revised
Date Adopted	November 3, 2009	Dates Revised

Please direct comments about this page to the Assistant to the President
URL: http://www.wnc.edu/policymanual/4-1-7.php
Date Printed: February 9, 2012

Return to WNC Home Page | Policy and Procedure Home Page