Thread: Copyright claim on Teachers, Students

Originally Posted by MissyJ

I know that many companies now have similar policies to material(s) created -- while on company time or working on behalf of the company, which is where a lot of sticky legal challenges tend to come into play in trying to interpret whether creations on an employee's time related to the same genre as their employer become the property of the employer or are retained by employee. Many companies tend to use the premise that if the creation is used in the course of actually doing their job *or* using company resources it belongs to the company. Outside of that, it would fall to the employee.

The woman who invented liquid paper worked as a secretary. She was being paid to paint holiday windows where she was inspired to develop liquid paper. Her bosses told her not to use it. So....she was on company time when and idea struck her unrelated to what she was being paid to do (paint the windows). Does that mean the company should own the product even though they told her not to use it?

Hmmm..wasn't even thinking about publishing books and things like that.

I am not for it at all. I think this will be something they will review and won't pursue.

Originally Posted by ethanwinfield

The woman who invented liquid paper worked as a secretary. She was being paid to paint holiday windows where she was inspired to develop liquid paper. Her bosses told her not to use it. So....she was on company time when and idea struck her unrelated to what she was being paid to do (paint the windows). Does that mean the company should own the product even though they told her not to use it?

Typically jobs where you "innovate" have clauses in the contracts where the company owns the product. If you work in designing computer monitors and you come up with a new screen idea, the company probably owns it and it would be hard for you to say you did it in your own time. If you are there and you come up with a better way to feed paper in to the photocopier, it is proably safe for you to pursue that. For a company to pursue intellectual property protection on an idea does take a lot of money so it is unlikely they would go for it if it is out of their scope.

For the teacher/student copyright issue. I don't agree with it. However, I could see them making an arguement that they have the right to use things like student drawings if those drawings were entered into a competition sponsored by the school and thingslike that since I see that rule for many photography competitions.

This is very common in college esp with undergrads.. not sure I agree with it at all, especially students. I do understand a bit with teachers that way the school doesn't have to pay to use their copyrighted curriculum on top of their salary.

Originally Posted by Rivergallery

This is very common in college esp with undergrads.. not sure I agree with it at all, especially students. I do understand a bit with teachers that way the school doesn't have to pay to use their copyrighted curriculum on top of their salary.

I agree. It this kind of contract is common practice. The facebook movie talked about it too. I think in a real time scenario, it comes down to a real cost-benefit issue. If it is areal money maker, the original stake-holders want their take. The conflict comes down to what that is.

Originally Posted by bunnyfufu

I agree. It this kind of contract is common practice. The facebook movie talked about it too. I think in a real time scenario, it comes down to a real cost-benefit issue. If it is areal money maker, the original stake-holders want their take. The conflict comes down to what that is.

I was wondering about this from a college level student perspective. Do students lose their right to copyright or patent creations/inventions that they develop during their work as a student?

Originally Posted by Danifo

Typically jobs where you "innovate" have clauses in the contracts where the company owns the product. If you work in designing computer monitors and you come up with a new screen idea, the company probably owns it and it would be hard for you to say you did it in your own time. If you are there and you come up with a better way to feed paper in to the photocopier, it is proably safe for you to pursue that. For a company to pursue intellectual property protection on an idea does take a lot of money so it is unlikely they would go for it if it is out of their scope.

This was my first thought too. My dad works in the tech industry, and it's in his contract that basically any tech/communications type thing he were to "invent" (whether he came up with the idea at home or in the office) belongs to them. Basically, any patent for any tech product that he files while he works for them belongs to them. Which makes sense - you don't necessarily want someone who has access to all of your technology and insider knowledge to go off on his own and become your next competitor.

Having said that, I don't think the same should apply to teachers, and CERTAINLY not to students. Teachers aren't in danger of becoming "the competition" against school districts, and if you have a teacher that is coming up with a lot of great material for their classes, that directly benefits the students and school district; it's just not the same. And I certainly don't see how students could be included in that since they aren't even employees of the district. I do agree that if a student enters a painting or a short story or something into a school competition, it's okay if the school makes it part of the agreement of entering the contest that the school can use that painting or story (like, post them on their website, or things like that.) But even then, it should still belong to the student, it's just being reused with permission.

Originally Posted by Alissa_Sal

This was my first thought too. My dad works in the tech industry, and it's in his contract that basically any tech/communications type thing he were to "invent" (whether he came up with the idea at home or in the office) belongs to them. Basically, any patent for any tech product that he files while he works for them belongs to them. Which makes sense - you don't necessarily want someone who has access to all of your technology and insider knowledge to go off on his own and become your next competitor.

Having said that, I don't think the same should apply to teachers, and CERTAINLY not to students. Teachers aren't in danger of becoming "the competition" against school districts, and if you have a teacher that is coming up with a lot of great material for their classes, that directly benefits the students and school district; it's just not the same. And I certainly don't see how students could be included in that since they aren't even employees of the district. I do agree that if a student enters a painting or a short story or something into a school competition, it's okay if the school makes it part of the agreement of entering the contest that the school can use that painting or story (like, post them on their website, or things like that.) But even then, it should still belong to the student, it's just being reused with permission.

I can totally understand in the corporate world. If someone is paid to create something, say a toy maker creates a board game while working for Hasbro. He can't get a job at Milton Bradley and bring the game with him so now it's MB making the game.

However, if my current employer owns my lessons, that would mean I couldn't use those same lesson plans when I went to a new district. Well, I guess technically, some would be owned by the university since developing lessons is a big part of the credentialing process.

I think if there is going to be a claws saying that anything you create while working someone belongs to your employer, that would have to be spelled out before hand in your contract. As for students, I can see the point of a doctoral student. I have a friend to is trying to get into a doctors program. The pay for her to come visit the school and interview. They also pay a stipend for the student. I am sure in that case there is a contract that the student signs before hand.

When I read the article at first, I was thinking of some little second grader that writes a story for a writing contest at school, then goes on to turning his story into a book and gets it published. That of course belongs to the little second grader and not his school teacher.