Presented by Sheri Ross, followed by comments from Bill Hannay.
Much scholarship is created digitally, often in a mediated online environment with several collaborators and interested parties. As a result, academic institutions must update their intellectual property policies to address current practices in teaching/learning and research/publishing. As institutional policies often serve as contracts, they must be clear and address the rights of several stakeholders, including the institution, granting agencies, faculty, staff and students, among others. While several large universities and institutions with a strong online presence have updated intellectual property policies, many smaller institutions have just begun to revise and execute such policies.
This session will relate the issues uncovered and lessons learned during the recent rewriting of the intellectual property policy at a medium-sized, private liberal arts institution. The session will focus on copyrights and will have three primary objectives. First, attendees will receive a brief overview of copyright and contract law as it pertains to creating a policy for an academic institution. Second, they will be introduced to the needs and concerns of various stakeholder groups at an academic institution. Third, attendees will be presented with scenarios depicting conflicts of interest and will be encouraged to discuss potential policy strategies, relating their own experiences in the development of intellectual property policies at their institutions.
