MONTANA
BOARD OF REGENTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Policy and Procedures Manual
SUBJECT:
RESEARCH AND
PUBLIC SERVICE
Policy 406 - Ownership of Electronic Course Material
Effective
March 23, 2001; Issued April 2, 2001
Board Policy:
1. General Policy and Coverage.
a.
Any electronic course materials created or developed by
employees of the Montana University System, either in connection with their
assigned duties or by the use of the System’s facilities, shall be considered
the property of the University System.
Routine information gathering relating to the substantive content of a
course or the use of the campus library shall not by itself constitute “use of
the System’s facilities” for purposes of this policy.
b.
This policy applies to electronic course material whether or
not it was, is or may be eligible for copyright or patent.
c.
The mere communication or preservation of traditional
classroom or course material in an electronic medium does not bring that
material within the ambit of this policy.
Rather, this policy is intended to cover material created for or
designed to be used in conjunction with a course, or a part thereof, delivered
by means other than personal, face to face interaction between the instructor
and the student.
d. Activities and materials covered by this policy are thereby excluded from the coverage of Policy 401.2 (Patent) and Policy 401.3 (Copyright).
2. Division of Income.
a.
Generally, net income shall be divided, 50 percent to the employee
and 50 percent to the campus at which the developer is employed. However, a campus shall retain 100% of the
net income from electronic course material developed by an employee at the
express direction of the employer or in return for specified payments or other
consideration.
b. Net income, for the purposes of this policy, means gross income minus costs of development and promotion, realized from the sale or licensing of the electronic course material.
3. Variance by Contract.
a.
This policy may be varied by a written contract. Such contracts may be between the University
System and the employee or they may also involve an outside sponsor that
desires to maintain certain rights in materials it is paying the University
System employee to develop.
b. A campus chancellor or a president may approve a contract that either reduces the University System’s ownership rights or reduces the University System’s share of net income if, in the chancellor or president’s judgment, the contract is in the best interests of the University System. In each such instance where the University System’s ownership rights are reduced or the University System’s share of net income is reduced to below 50%, the chancellor or president shall inform the commissioner of the contract and shall indicate the reason for approving it.
4. Relinquishment of University Rights.
a.
The University System may for fair value and upon the
approval of a chancellor or president relinquish rights to electronic course
material to the developer or any other person or entity. Such a right may be relinquished for no
consideration only if the president or chancellor concludes that there is not a
likelihood of the campus benefiting from the retention of the right in
question.
b. Any agreement relinquishing such rights shall retain for the University System a perpetual, royalty free right to use, reproduce, and revise without restriction the material for the University System’s own educational or research purposes, unless the president or chancellor concludes that such a clause is not in the campus’s best interests and documents that conclusion in writing.
5. Patent and Copyright.
All employees who develop electronic course material shall assist the University System to secure and protect a patent or copyright on the material.
6. Limitation on Use Outside the University System.
a.
The employee who creates or develops the electronic course
material subject to this policy may not use the material in conjunction with
teaching conducted on behalf of any entity other than the Montana University
System unless prior permission is granted in writing by the a campus
chancellor, president or the Commissioner of Higher Education, which permission
shall not be unreasonably withheld.
b. This limitation applies to the specific electronic format of the course and does not limit the employee’s right to use facts, theories, opinions or other items of substantive course content in another setting.
History:
Board of Regents Policy and Procedures Manual: Ownership of Electronic Course Material (Proposed New Policy), approved by the Board on March 23, 2001 (Item 109-103-R1100).