{"id":111,"date":"2013-12-05T14:52:37","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T20:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/?page_id=111"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:07:44","slug":"intellectual-property-ownership","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/intellectual-property-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"Intellectual Property Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>[Faculty Handbook Category #2]<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In furtherance of the college\u2019s goal of encouraging creative and scholarly works,&nbsp;St.&nbsp;Olaf&nbsp;College&nbsp;has adopted this Intellectual Property Ownership Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Ownership of Creative Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As \u201cworks made for hire\u201d are defined under Section 101 of the Copyright Act of 1976, works&nbsp;created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment are owned by the employer.&nbsp;&nbsp;The college does not intend for this \u201cworks made for hire\u201d doctrine to apply to faculty-created works unless extraordinary resources of the college are used in the creation of a work.&nbsp;&nbsp;Therefore, faculty members will own the copyrights in works that result from a faculty member\u2019s pursuit of traditional teaching, research and scholarly activities, including the creation of books, articles and other literary works; computer software; inventions; artistic, musical or dramatic works; or course materials, whether in traditional or electronic form, unless extraordinary resources of the college were used in the creation of the work.&nbsp;&nbsp;With regard to any particular creative work, the college and the faculty member may mutually agree on an alternative ownership arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Ownership of Inventions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under patent law, inventions are owned by the inventor and not the employer unless the inventor agrees to assign his or her rights in an invention to the employer.&nbsp;&nbsp;Unless extraordinary resources of the college are used in the creation of a work, the college will not expect the faculty member to assign his or her rights in an invention conceived, developed, or discovered during the faulty member\u2019s employment with the college.&nbsp;&nbsp;With regard to any particular invention, the college and the faculty member may mutually agree on an alternative ownership arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Definition of Extraordinary Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cExtraordinary resources\u201d may consist of released time from regularly assigned duties (but not a sabbatical or similar leave); direct investment by the college through funds or staff; the college\u2019s purchase of special equipment for the project; use of the college\u2019s multimedia production personnel and facilities; or extraordinary use of the college\u2019s computing resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;Use of incidental supplies, use of a college computer in a faculty office, or use of college personnel or shared facilities on an occasional basis will not be considered use of extraordinary resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;The college will determine whether extraordinary resources have been used on an individual basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Further Actions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For all works for which the college retains ownership, the faculty member agrees to cooperate with the college and take any further actions necessary to effectuate ownership by the college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Administration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This Intellectual Property Ownership Policy will be administered by the Provost.&nbsp;&nbsp;Disputes concerning application of this policy will be resolved by a review panel of three members consisting of the President, a representative appointed by the creator of the work, and a representative appointed by the Provost.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Faculty Handbook Category #2] In furtherance of the college\u2019s goal of encouraging creative and scholarly works,&nbsp;St.&nbsp;Olaf&nbsp;College&nbsp;has adopted this Intellectual Property Ownership Policy. Ownership of Creative Works As \u201cworks made for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-111","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/111\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/facultyhandbook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}