Unless the judicially created "teacher's exception" for university
faculty to the WFH doctrine survived the 1976 Copyright Act, as two 7th
Cir. decisions have held. 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pat Cihon
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 3:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: training materials ownership

It seems to me, that because the university paid a fee for the
development of the materials, they could claim that it was a "work for
hire"  and thus the property of the employer.
                        Pat Cihon

>>> [log in to unmask] 1/16/2007 2:09 PM >>>
Linda:

        This link, surely, contains out of date material, but its 
preference for the faculty claim is strong.
http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/yellow.htm 

        Subsequently, this morphed into the following publication.
"A Quandary for Information Technology: Who Controls the Content of 
Distance Education." Journal of Information Systems Education. Winter 
2000. Refereed. Jointly authored with Dr. D. Peak (then) of UNO ISQA
(now 
of University of North Texas).

        In short, if there was a prior, written, and signed contract 
allocating ownership rights in the copyrights, then the answer is
clear. 
If not, then not.

        You may predict, with little fear of contradiction, that the 
university lawyers will claim ownership rights that are sufficiently
broad 
(let's be gracious in our phraseology) as to be defensible claims, if
not 
claims based upon colorable title.  Unless some deep pockets are
seeking 
to fund enforcement of "principles", try to keep an eye on the relative

magnitudes of the monetary values involved.  If the fair market value
of 
these faculty works is, let us be generous, $100,000; then try not to 
expend more than $200,000 in good will protecting that claim.  All
future 
creations are quite likely to be initiated with a prior, written, and 
signed contract allocating ownership rights in the copyrights.

Michael

Professor Michael J. O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
Finance, Banking, & Law Department              Editor, Journal of
Legal 
Economics
College of Business Administration              (402) 554 - 2014 voice
fax 
(402) 554 - 3825
Roskens Hall 502                                www.AAEFE.org 
University of Nebraska at Omaha         www.JournalOfLegalEconomics.com

Omaha  NE  68182 http://nbdc.unomaha.edu/aaefe 
[log in to unmask] 
(402) 554 - 2823 voice  fax (402) 554 - 2680
http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm