Please see the following from UUP Statewide Vice President, Jamie Dangler:
Protect your intellectual property if you transition to remote instruction
Members at our campuses who produce course materials – whether documents, videos, or recordings of class meetings – own the copyright unless they are under a written “work for hire” agreement with their campus that waives those rights. Copyright enforcement as things enter cyberspace could be a problem, so a starting point is to advise that all materials, including recordings and videos, have a copyright notice or statement before they are posted. That is a first step to protecting one’s intellectual property.
As for using virtual meeting technologies such as Zoom, it’s very important for faculty to read the particular provider’s terms of service. What do they say they can do (or not do) with whatever is displayed or recorded onto their platform?
We have discussed intellectual property protection during the COVID-19 crisis with SUNY, so they are aware of our concerns. We will follow up as additional information develops. We’re still compiling information about all the different things occurring across campuses. Our copyright protections via SUNY Board of Trustees Policies remain in place, but enforcement at the campus level and the specific terms of service that faculty may sign on to for external providers such as Zoom raise many challenges. Intellectual property fact sheets are posted on the UUP website under Member/Resources:
https://uupinfo.org/resources/
In Solidarity,
Kenneth H. Kern
President, Buffalo Center Chapter UUP
520 Lee Entrance
UB Commons, Suite 108
Amherst, NY 14288
(716) 276-3377
“Together We Fight, Together We Win!”