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.)

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.