Copyrights of Faculty, Staff, & Students

Student Copyrights

As a student, you hold the copyright in your academic works. You may view your copyrights in the Intellectual Property Policy:

Appendix R of the K-State University Handbook

In summary, K-State holds a nonexclusive, royalty free license to:

• mark on,
• modify,
• and retain student academic works

(This means that K-State instructors may grade, make edits, and keep records of your academic works and writings as part of your classes.)

Have deeper questions? The CopyCats Student Handbook for Copyright will address student questions.

Faculty & Staff Copyrights

Work for Hire

If a work is created as a part of a person's employment, that work is a "work for hire" and the copyright belongs to the employer.

(This is unless the employer explicitly grants rights to the employee in a signed agreement. )

If the creator is hired as a contractor, then the creator (rather than the company/employer) may be the copyright holder.

Please visit Circular 30: Works Made for Hire from the U.S. Copyright Office for more information on "works made for hire."

Work for Hire at K-State

If you are an employee (student, faculty, or staff) at K-State, the ownership of the content you create in the course of your employment is dependent on your work duties.

Generally, full-time staff members at K-State do not hold the copyright to the materials they create in the course of their work duties, especially if the content is specifically related to K-State.

In this case, copyright is held by Kansas State University and the work is considered a "work made for hire" under U.S. copyright law and by K-State's Intellectual Property Policy. Please refer to "Section I: Copyrights" of the policy for more information.

FAQ

1. If work is part of the normal course of your employment at K-State (e.g. a student worker creating a poster for a K-State event) then copyright is held by K-State.
   Exceptions to this are when there is a specific written agreement stating copyright transfer to a particular faculty member, staff, or student.
   
   
2. Who owns copyright if a K-State Employee is using "substantial institutional resources" to create a work?
   For example, a Graduate Teaching Assistant uses software licensed to K-State to create teaching materials.
   
   K-State will own the rights to the created work, but a faculty member, staff, or student will still have ownership over the intellectual content in the work.
   See Appendix R for a definition of "substantial use."
   
   
3. Who owns copyright in the creation of Scholarly or Artistic Works during employment?
   For example, a Graduate Research Assistant taking photos for a research project under the direction of a faculty member.
   This ownership stays with the creator. However, K-State may have copyright if substantial use applies (see question 2) or if there is a written agreement stating copyright transfer to the faculty member, staff or student.
   See Appendix R for the definition of "Scholarly or Artistic Works"
   K-State may have copyright if substantial use applies (see above) or if there is a written agreement stating copyright transfer.
   
   

4. Who owns copyright when a student creates a work as part of a course a K-State?
   K-State stipulates that all student works created in a course remain the rights of the students. Permission must be received by students to display, share, or distribute copies the work in future courseware.