Employee/Student Work Products

The board encourages employee/student creativity and productivity and makes it possible for creative people to share in possible rewards for their effort.

The college may have legal claim on all products created by its employees/students which in any way may be an outgrowth of their job responsibility or study assignments. In order to minimize misunderstanding about the ownership of such products, the following procedures are to be observed by all persons who are or might be developing commercially attractive products which are or might be construed to be associated with their normal job responsibility or study assignments.
 

1. Ownership of Faculty/Employee/Student-Produced Work Products
   1. Work products created as part of any officially assigned college responsibility or classroom activity undertaken on school time will be the property of the college. The college may patent or copyright all such materials or devices in its own name; however, such items will bear the name(s) of the creator(s). All royalties and other proceeds from the production, sale or distribution of the materials or devices will be paid to the college.
   2. Ownership of work products by an employee/student in a federal program during hours for which the employee was paid by federal funds and/or in which the use of federally funded supplies or equipment played a substantial role lies in the public domain.
   3. The employee/student has all rights of ownership of work products produced by him/her on his/her own time without any involvement of college equipment and supplies.
   4. The administration may enter into an agreement with an employee/student regarding rights of use and ownership of work products.
   5. The agreement shall settle any existing doubt about who has the rights of ownership; if the employee/student does not initiate and enter into such an agreement within one year of the completion of the work product, the rights of ownership shall belong to the college. Forms for such agreement may be obtained from the Vice President of Finance & Operations.

X This replaces policy dated: 04-17-2018, 04-04-2006, 07-30-2001.