Alissa L. Centivany 3339 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI Presentation Title Your Name Your Academic Title Paper Tigers: Rethinking the Relationship between Copyright, Open Access, and Scholarly Publishing

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Universities own the copyrights in faculty-created works.

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Academia is growing increasingly critical of scholarly publishers Some Context

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Funding Boycotts Mandates The “fixes”

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Copyright Incentives The problem(s)

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Analyze copyright in faculty works – Work-made-for-hire – Teacher Exception – University copyright policies Implications Recommendations Publishers are “Paper Tigers”

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) For the Sake of Brevity... Alissa Centivany, Paper Tigers: Rethinking the Relationship Between Copyright and Scholarly Publishing 17 Mich. Telecomm. Tech. L. Rev. XXX (2011), available at

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Copyright 101 Who owns the copyrights in faculty-created works?

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Are faculty-created works works-for hire? Are the works: (1) prepared by an employee (2) within the scope of their employment?

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Hiring party’s right to control 2. Skill required 3. Provision of benefits 4. Tax treatment 5. Hiring party’s right to assign additional projects Are faculty works prepared “by an employee”?

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Are faculty “employees”? Yes

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) “Conduct of a servant is within the scope of employment if, but only if: – (a) it is of the kind he is employed to perform; – (b) it occurs substantially within the authorized time and space limits; – (c) it is actuated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the master ….” Are faculty-created works prepared “within the scope of employment”?

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Are faculty works prepared “within the scope of employment”? Yes

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Copyright in faculty-created works vests in universities under work-for-hire

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Isn't there an exception for teachers?

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Yes, but...

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) expressio unius est exclusio alterius

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Long-standing academic traditions still matter

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Do University Policies Modify Ownership? Two Policy Flavors: #1 – Selectively disclaim initial copyright ownership #2 – Transfer copyrights to faculty-creators

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Policy Flavor #1 – Disclaim initial ownership Stanford University's Policy RPH § 5.2 – “... copyright in pedagogical, scholarly, or artistic works to which the University disclaims ownership under this policy shall be held by the creators regardless of whether the work constitutes a work-for-hire under copyright law.”

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) What's wrong with policy flavor #1? Work-for-hire applies through the operation of law creating an “irrebuttable presumption” in favor of the employer.

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Policy Flavor #2 Transfer copyright to faculty-creators University of Michigan Bylaw § 3.10 – “ Patents and copyrights issued or acquired as the result of or in connection with administration, research, or other educational activities … shall be the property of the University.” SPG § I.A.1 – “all faculty … own and control instructional materials and scholarly works created at their own initiative with usual University resources.” Proposed revisions...

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) What's wrong with policy flavor #2? 17 U.S.C. §204 requires that copyright transfers is in writing and signed by the owner of rights conveyed or such owner's duly authorized agent.

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Summary Copyright in faculty-created works vests in universities under work-for-hire & University policies don't actually modify copyright ownership

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Implications for faculty Practically speaking, no change

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Implications for publishers Publishers are in trouble

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Implications for Universities Outlook is good

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Four Recommendations for Universities #1 – Stop trying to solve problems that don't exist

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Four Recommendations for Universities #2 – Focus on the incentives problem – peer-review – system of assessing academic award and credit

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Four Recommendations for Universities #3 – Revise copyright policies

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Four Recommendations for Universities #4 – Renegotiate terms with publishers

4322 North Quad 105 S. State St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) Thanks! Alissa Centivany, Paper Tigers: Rethinking the Relationship Between Copyright and Scholarly Publishing 17 Mich. Telecomm. Tech. L. Rev. XXX (2011), available at