蘑菇视频网站

Intellectual Property Policy

I. Purpose & scope

蘑菇视频网站 seeks to encourage creativity and invention among its faculty, students, and staff. The College supports this endeavor by making available its own facilities, equipment, personnel, and information resources for the development of intellectual property. The College also actively seeks specific support for creative activity from external sources, both public and private. Given 蘑菇视频网站鈥檚 institutional commitment to scholarship and research, this policy provides the basis for allocating rights and responsibilities relating to intellectual property created on campus. The policy applies to all covered individuals (as defined in Section II below).

The specific aims of the policy are to:

1. Promote and encourage the advancement of knowledge and the social good;
2. Protect the traditional rights of scholars and artists with respect to scholarly and creative works;
3. Set for mechanism for determining rights of ownership in intellectual property and for resolving disputes with respect to such property;
4. Set for guidelines for how the College and members of the college community will participate in any net profits that result when intellectual property is introduced for commercial development;
5. Protect the rights of a scholar or artist to their work and use their work elsewhere when leaving the institution;
6. Retain for the College the right to use certain works developed by faculty and staff who may leave the institution;
7. Protect the College鈥檚 interest in work products developed for the College by outside consultants and independent contractors

II. Definitions

A. 鈥淐overed individuals鈥� refers to:

1. All persons employed by 蘑菇视频网站, including full and part-time faculty, adjunct faculty, administrative officers, and staff members.
2. Independent contractors and consultants.
3. All college students, including undergraduates, graduate students, distance-learning program students and professional program students. For purposes of this policy, a 鈥渟tudent鈥� is any individual who registers for any course at the College through the Student Administrative Services or the Graduate and Professional Studies.
4. Anyone using college facilities or resources under the supervision or with the permission of college personnel, including, but not limited to, volunteers and students enrolled at the College or other institutions and/or performing internships at the College.

B. 鈥淚ntellectual Property鈥� is divided into two categories, defined as follows:

1. 鈥淐opyrightable Intellectual Property鈥� shall include, without limitation, all creative works, electronic or paper documents, course materials and syllabi, software (including source code and object code), multimedia or audiovisual materials and photographs, and any other materials that may by copyrightable under U.S. law (whether or not produced in the U.S.). Copyrightable Intellectual Property shall include educational or research software but shall not include software other than educational or research software.
2. 鈥淧atentable Intellectual Property鈥� shall include, without limitation, all inventions, discoveries, know-ho (despite the fact that these may not benefit from patent protections) and discoveries or other material that is potentially patentable under U.S. law (whether or not produced in the U.S>), as well as all software that is excluded from consideration as Copyrightable Intellectual Property (whether or not patentable under U.S. law)

C. 鈥淐hief Academic Officer鈥� refers to the Provost of 蘑菇视频网站.

D. 鈥淓ducational or Research Software鈥� shall include, without limitation, all software developed to support and/or advance the educational and research pursuits, programs, initiatives, and goals of 蘑菇视频网站 College. It shall not include software developed for commercial purposes and that does not invoke any of the conditions in Section III, paragraph A. 1. herein, for example, but not limited to, gaming, time management, word processing, database, artificial intelligence, and other programs intended to be distributed to the public, regardless of whether a fee is charged for the program.

E. 鈥淧resident鈥� refers to the President of 蘑菇视频网站.

III. Rights & responsibilities

A. Copyrightable Intellectual Property

I. Responsibility for Disclosure of Copyrightable Intellectual Property

1. The creator of Copyrightable Intellectual Property is not obligated to disclose the creation of such property, even when the property might have commercial value, unless the property is owned by the College or the College has a license or other rights to use the property, as set forth below. In such case, the creator is responsible for timely disclosure to the College, i.e., when it can be reasonably concluded that Copyrightable Intellectual Property has been created, and sufficiently in advance of any publications, presentation, or other public disclosure to allow time for possible action that protects rights to the Intellectual Property for the creator[s] and the College.
2. Covered individuals who are not required to disclose Copyrightable Intellectual Property are nevertheless encouraged to consult with the chief academic officer regarding the disclosure of such property to the extent that they may wish assistance in copyright protection and marketing in exchange for profit sharing with the College.
   
   

II. Determination of Rights to Copyrightable Intellectual Property

Except as set forth below, the creator of Copyrightable Intellectual Property shall retain their rights, and the College shall not have ownership rights.

1. The College owns Copyrightable Intellectual Property developed under any of the following circumstances:
   • Development was funded as part of an externally sponsored research program or by any agreement that allocates rights to the College;
   • A Covered Individual was assigned, directed, or specifically funded by the College to develop the Copyrightable Intellectual Property, and the College has negotiated a written understanding or formal contract with the creator;
     • Copyrightable Intellectual Property was developed by administrators or other non-faculty employees, including student employees, in the course of employment duties and constitutes work made for hire under U.S. Copyright law; or
     • Copyrightable Intellectual Property was developed with 鈥渟ubstantial use of college resources,鈥� which means the use of college resources, including college funds, facilities, office and lab equipment, and administrative and technical support significantly in excess of those resources widely and ordinarily available to a class or category of college personnel, faculty, or students. The following examples of substantial use of college resources are provided for guidance, but these examples in no way limit or restrict the meaning of 鈥渟ubstantial use鈥�:
       • extended use of time and energy by the creator(s) in the work that results in a reduction in the expected levels of teaching, scholarship or other academic activities, so that anticipated performance in these areas is at a level significantly less than normal;
       • significant use of specialized computing resources;
2. Use of faculty or staff in the creation of the work in lieu of their regular assignments and duties to the College;
3. Use of funding from funding from gifts to the College to support creation of the works involved.
4. The College has the right to use Copyrightable Intellectual Property owned by Covered Individuals in the following circumstances:
   • Faculty members will grant to the College a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to make copies of Copyrightable Intellectual Property that they own and use such property in teaching, scholarship and research in support of the College's educational mission, provided that faculty members shall have the right to approve proposed uses of their Copyrightable Intellectual Property outside of teaching, scholarship and research in support of the College's educational mission. Such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. The College or a third party has no right under this paragraph to record or distribute the recording of a faculty member's classroom lecture or performance for commercial purposes without the faculty member's permission, which is in the sole discretion of the faculty member to give.
     • In the event a faculty member leaves the College, the faculty member will grant to the College a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-assignable, and non-transferrable license to use and create derivative works from Copyrightable Intellectual Property that is course material created by the faculty member for use in the college curriculum. The faculty member will not challenge the College鈥檚 rights under this clause. The College will, when exercising its license, credit the faculty member unless the faculty member provides reasonable advance notice to the College that credit should not be given.
     • Faculty members acknowledge and agree that the College鈥檚 rights granted in this Section are permitted uses of the Copyrightable Intellectual Property under the 鈥渇air use doctrine鈥� and will not be challenged by the faculty member in any legal or other proceeding.
     • It is suggested, but not required, that any covered individual, when publishing a scholarly work, request the publisher to place a note on the first page of the publication giving the College and other nonprofit organizations the right to make copies of all or any portion of the published work for educational purposes without written permission or payment of an additional fee. Suggested language follows: Copyright [date] [Publisher]. Permission is granted for nonprofit educational and library duplication and distribution of this [article].
     • In the event that a Covered Individual or group of Covered Individuals has created Copyrightable Intellectual Property prior to the initiation of employment or matriculation at the College, the College will not assert ownership or license rights to such property. To the extent the faculty or staff member or student creates derivative Copyrightable Intellectual Property from such work while employed or matriculating at the College, the terms of this policy shall govern the rights to such derivative property.
       
       

B. Patentable Intellectual Property

I. Responsibility for Disclosure of Patentable Intellectual Property

Covered Individuals who alone, or in association with others, create Patentable Intellectual Property with any use of college resources are responsible for disclosing the Patentable Intellectual Property to the College. Such disclosure shall be made when it can be reasonably concluded that Patentable Intellectual Property has been created, and sufficiently in advance of any publications, presentation, or other public disclosure to allow time for possible action that protects rights to the Patentable Intellectual Property for the creator[s] and the College. Creators are encouraged to seek the advice of the Chief Academic Officer in determining whether the subject matter is Patentable Intellectual Property within the meaning of this policy.

II. Determination of Rights to Patentable Intellectual Property

Except as set forth below, the creator of Patentable Intellectual Property shall retain their rights, and the College shall not assert ownership rights.

1. The College owns Patentable Intellectual Property developed under any of the following circumstances:
2. Development was funded by an externally sponsored research program or by any agreement that allocates ownership rights to the College;
3. The creator was assigned, directed, or specifically funded by the College to develop the Patentable Intellectual Property and the College has negotiated a written understanding or formal contract with the creator that allocates ownership rights to the College;
4. Patentable Intellectual Property was developed by administrators or other non-faculty employees, including student employees, in the course of employment duties; in such case, the creator shall assign all rights in the property to the College; 
5. Patentable Intellectual Property was developed by any individual with substantial use of college resources (as defined in Section III, paragraph A.1). In such case, the creator shall assign all rights in the property to the College.
6. The College has the right to use Patentable Intellectual Property owned by others in the following circumstances:
7. Faculty members hereby grant to the College a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use Patentable Intellectual Property that they own in teaching, scholarship and research in support of the College's educational mission.
   
   

C. Agreements Regarding Intellectual Property

1. Because the College aims to encourage creativity, it reserves the right to allow flexibility in applying this policy on a case-by-case basis. In such cases, ownership of Copyrightable Intellectual Property or Patentable Intellectual Property developed pursuant to a special agreement between the College, and the creator or creators will be governed by the provisions of any such agreement.
2. General Counsel shall review all contracts between the College and independent contractors so that the College's ownership interest in the work product may be protected. Examples include contracts for:
   • Curriculum and course materials;
   • Reports by consultants or subcontractors;
   • Computer software;
   • Architectural or engineering drawings, illustrations or designs prepared for the College;
   • Artistic works commissioned by the College;
   • Web pages and/or advertising material prepared for the College.

Contracts must contain work made for hire and alternative present assignment language for all works that do not fall within the work made for hire definition under U.S. Copyright Law providing that the College owns the work. Contracts with adjunct faculty may, but are not required to, include work made for hire language, at the discretion of the individual program, but shall include language retaining all rights for the College set forth in Section III, paragraphs A.1 and 2.

IV. Additional rules for students

Intellectual property created by students is subject to the following additional rules:

1. The College makes no claim to copyright ownership of Intellectual Property created by students working on their own or doing class work, i.e., not within the scope of an employment relationship with the College or with one of its employees and not making substantial use of college resources. The College reserves the right to keep a copy of all coursework produced by a student.
2. Students working on a project governed by a contract or agreement to which the College is a party shall sign an employment agreement to and be bound by the terms of that contract or agreement, including the ownership rights to any Intellectual Property that is created.
3. Students who are hired or directed to perform specific tasks that contribute to the creation of Copyrightable Intellectual Property and/or Patentable Intellectual Property will, unless specifically agreed to in writing to the contrary, have no rights to ownership of that property, regardless of the source of funds from which they are paid. In such cases, the party who owns the copyright and/or patent rights of the rest of the property will retain copyright and/or patent ownership of the portion contributed by the student, which student portion shall be deemed a work made for hire and alternatively, if not deemed a work made for hire under U.S. Copyright Law, the agreement or contract under which the student is hired shall include present assignment language where the student hereby assigns all their ownership rights to the party who owns the copyright or patent rights.
4. Students, paid or unpaid, working collaboratively with Covered Individuals on projects that result in Copyrightable Intellectual Property or Patentable Intellectual Property, except those who are hired or directed to perform specific tasks that contribute to the creation of such property as described in Section IV, paragraph C., will be granted the same rights and obligations of copyright and patent ownership as would another Covered Individual working collaboratively on the project. To the extent a Covered Individual working with the student asserts sole ownership of the work product, he or she must establish this right through a written agreement as soon as it becomes reasonably apparent that copyrightable or patentable property may be produced as a result of the collaboration or be barred from asserting sole ownership rights.
5. If none of the above relationships apply, students performing work compensated by the College are subject to the provisions governing staff or other non-faculty employees, and their work constitutes work made for hire or, alternatively, if the student鈥檚 work is not deemed work made for hire, under U.S. Copyright law the student hereby assigns all their ownership rights to the College, as set forth in this policy.
6. Students may also be subject to rules and restrictions of their programs, so long as such rules and restrictions are consistent with this policy.
7. The College reserves the right to make copies of student papers, dissertations, and theses for use in the college curriculum and for archival purposes.
8. Students may not disseminate notes or video or audio recordings they make in class for any purposes unless approved by the faculty or instructor.

V. Formalizing ownership & allocation of rights & responsibilities

A. Reporting the Creation of Intellectual Property

The creator(s) of Copyrightable Intellectual Properly that may be owned by the College pursuant to this policy and the creator(s) of Patentable Intellectual Property, or any individual(s) claiming an interest in such Copyrightable Intellectual Property or Patentable Intellectual Property, including an individual acting on behalf of the College, shall disclose such development to the Chief Academic Officer so that the College may act to protect its ownership interest in the property. Such disclosure shall be made when it can be reasonably concluded that copyrightable Patentable Intellectual Property or Patentable Intellectual Property has been created, and sufficiently in advance of any publications, presentation, or other public disclosure to allow time possible action that protects rights to the Intellectual Property for the creator(s) and the College.

B. Waiver or Return of Rights

The College may, in its sole discretion, waive, transfer, or license to the creator(s) its rights in any intellectual property when such action does not conflict with obligations to other interested parties. This could occur, for instance, if the costs for protecting and developing the intellectual property are not likely to be matched by anticipated income and royalties.

C. Agreements Regarding the Ownership & Use of Intellectual Property

In the event the College or any Covered Individual wishes to negotiate a special agreement regarding Intellectual Property referred to in Section III.C, or otherwise modify the application of this policy to any particular Intellectual Property, an agreement regarding ownership and use of such property may be reached. The Chief Academic Officer shall be responsible for negotiating all such agreements.

VI. Distribution of royalties

Unless otherwise agreed, the net income (gross royalties and license or use fees minus administrative, licensing, legal, marketing, and other reasonable expenses) resulting from the marketing of Copyrightable Intellectual Property or Patentable Intellectual Property owned by the College pursuant to this policy will be divided as follows:

In all cases鈥�50% to the inventor(s)/creator(s) and 50% to the College,

In the event that Intellectual Property is created by multiple inventors, the inventors鈥� royalties will normally be shared equally among all inventors unless they agree otherwise in writing. Each inventor鈥檚 share will continue after he or she leaves the College.

VII. Resolution of conflicts

In the event that a dispute arises regarding the application of this policy, the Chief Academic Officer shall appoint a three-person ad hoc Intellectual Property Adjudication Committee to adjudicate the dispute. The committee shall consist of one member chosen by the Chief Academic Officer, one member chosen by the individual(s) involved in the dispute, and a third member chosen by the first two appointees. All committee members shall be employees of the College. The ad hoc committee shall establish its own procedures and shall issue a written decision, which shall be the final decision of the College. If any party is not satisfied with the decisions, the matter shall be submitted to binding arbitration to take place on the college campus, according to the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The parties shall agree on a single arbitrator who has expertise in the field of higher education and intellectual property. Fees and costs of the arbitration shall be borne equally by all parties.

VIII. Conflicts of interest

1. Faculty, staff and students cannot use their institutional affiliation to popularize the competing product of for-profit enterprises.
2. Before entering into an agreement with an outside entity to commercialize a course taught at the College, including an agreement to record or distribute classroom lectures or performances, faculty must seek approval from the Chief Academic Officer.

IX. Use of artificial intelligence in the creation of work product

1. Faculty, staff and students are cautioned that the United States Copyright Office has taken the position that work product entirely created by an artificial intelligence (鈥淎I鈥�) program is not copyrightable. However, work product containing some lesser amount of AI-generated material along with a larger amount of human-generated work does not bar copyrightability. It is unclear at this time what allocation of human-generated work will be required to permit copyright protection in work product. Creators of work product should assume that copyright protection will likely extend only to the actual human expression, along with any non-AI assisted original text in the work product. The Copyright Office will most likely request information when examining an application with AI-generated content to determine what, if any, amount of human created expression is included. It is also unclear at this time whether the 鈥渇air use doctrine鈥� will apply as a defense to training an AI model using copyrighted materials.
2. Faculty, staff and students using artificial intelligence technology in the development of Intellectual Property must comply with the College鈥檚 Use of Artificial Intelligence Policy appended to and is part of this Intellectual Property Policy. Further, Faculty and staff are encouraged to consult with the College鈥檚 legal counsel before training any AI model or large language model (鈥淟LM鈥�) with any data, before using any AI models or LLMs to generate work product, and prior to using any AI-generated work product in college curriculum materials and other publications.

X. Changes to this policy

The College reserves the right to change this policy. Proposed changes normally will be developed by the Chief Academic Officer in consultation with appropriate representatives or committees of the faculty, staff, and students. All changes are effective immediately when a revised version is posted on the college website and apply to all Covered Individual鈥檚 thereafter and, when requested, all such Covered Individuals agree to execute the revised version. All questions about this policy should be referred to the Chief Academic Officer. The President has sole authority to approve changes to this policy.

XI. Responsible office

The administrator responsible for this policy is the Chief Academic Officer of the College.

XII. Policy history

Updated: February 2020; August 2025

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