What is an effective way to copyright my teaching material?

Question

I am an adjunct instructor at a technical college in the US. I was tasked with creating a new class which I would teach in the spring. I have finished all of my course materials (.pdfs, lab sheets, power points, etc etc). When I was first hired and told to create the new course, I was informed by some of my colleagues (former adjuncts at the same institution) that I would be paid for my course content. However, in speaking with my directory I was informed that I would not be paid for my course content as it is part of running the class.

Now whether or not that is right or wrong, I'm not too horribly concerned. However alot of my own personal time goes into creating these materials and I would like to protect my time investment.

Would it be wise or prudent to try and protect my course materials through some sort of copyrighting process of some sort, or something to that effect?

If so, what is a sufficient way of documenting my materials and ensuring that any party who obtains them sees them as "copyrighted" or possessing whatever protection that is applied to them?

My interest is in ensuring that my course materials are not gobbled up by someone else in the program, then taught by someone else without having been properly reimbursed for my development work in my personal time. Everyone else I have spoken to has said it sounds "not very kosher" that I am not being reimbursed for developing the course work.

I would simply like to protect my personal investment into these materials.

Thoughts? Insights? Experiences? Thank you!

I went through my contract, and there are two subdivisions that outline IP and copyright goodies, etc etc. The first paragraphs in essence state "The faculty member is entitled to the results of their research, IP, etc, EXCEPT when we pay for the research to be done, OR give you a break in your work load but still pay you to do the research, OR" - now this is the line I'm not sure about, "C. Under an assigned duty and/or work-for-hire arrangement with an external sponsor. " I was very informally asked "Hey, would you be willing to put together and teach a class on subject X?" Me - "Sure.". (That's fairly literally, the extent of the request and my response). Would that fall under either of the definitions of C?

Answer 1

Regarding your question

What is a sufficient way of documenting my materials and ensuring that any party who obtains them sees them as "copyrighted" or possessing whatever protection that is applied to them?

In the United States (I have zero knowledge of copyright law in other places) the following applies if you actually hold the rights to your materials:

• You can only get copyright protection for materials that you have fixed in a "tangible medium." For example, you can copyright your presentation slides or a video recording of your lecture; you cannot copyright your unwritten, unrecorded lectures.
• You can only copyright something you "created"; if you compile existing public domain material in a way that requires no creativity, it is not eligible for copyright protection.
• You can explicitly notify others that you reserve all rights (the rights of the copyright holder) to the materials with a written statement to that effect. For example, you can put "Copyright 2014 0xhughes, all rights reserved" on the footer of each page. (Note that you don't have to do this to get copyright interest in the materials, but it's a standard way of warning off potential infringers.)

Here is a reference for this answer.

Regarding the first part of your question

Would it be wise or prudent to try and protect my course materials through some sort of copyrighting process of some sort, or something to that effect?

this has already been addressed by another answer.

Regarding your specific contract, you will have to seek further clarification from the university as to who holds the rights to the materials.

Answer 2

To be clear, I am developing the materials while not teaching any courses or being paid by the school in any manner. It is currently the summer semester and I am not being paid to teach, develop course work or anything. I will have to try and find my contract.

The shows a misunderstanding about the nature of a teaching job. When you're paid to teach a course, you're not being paid to do work only while the course runs. You're also being paid to prepare the course, and you're going to need to do that before the first meeting.

I have finished all of my course materials (.pdfs, lab sheets, power points, etc etc). When I was first hired and told to create the new course, I was informed by some of my colleagues (former adjuncts at the same institution) that I would be paid for my course content. However, in speaking with my directory I was informed that I would not be paid for my course content as it is part of running the class.

Your colleagues were probably confused. Nobody pays instructors extra money to produce powerpoints and handouts. It goes with the job.

If you don't want others in your department to use your lab handouts without paying, don't give them your lab handouts. If you don't want others in your department to use your powerpoints without paying, don't give them your powerpoints.

As Bill Barth and JeffE have pointed out, copyright protection is automatic in most jurisdictions. It can be wise to put a copyright notice on your work, since a possible defense against a copyright-violation lawsuit is that the defendant didn't know it was copyrighted. A formal copyright registration is necessary in the US if you want to be able to recover more than actual damages, i.e., if you want punitive damages.

In general, the question shows an unrealistic set of assumptions about what teachers do; what they're paid to do; and what the normal contractual arrangements are. Furthermore, many people who write have an unrealistic belief in the quality and market value of their writing. There is no particular reason to expect that anyone else in the department will like these materials so much that they would want to use them. Most people prefer to do things their own way.

Answer 3

I am late arriving, but let me see whether I can understand... a) you are pretty sure you aren't going to get rich off your work, but b) it would chap your buns if the college took your material, handed it over to a TA and had the TA teach subsequent sessions of the course. Is that right?

If that's right then the question (in the United States) boils down to whether what you've produced is a "work made for hire." If it is, it belongs to the institution; if not, it belongs to you.

Getting a standard contract modified, particularly if this is a state institution, may be nearly impossible. I think I'd write a letter to whoever signs the contract saying something like, "My understanding of our contract of _____ is that all rights to the course material which I may develop to deliver this course vest in me, and that the University of _____ claims no right to any intellectual property developed in the preparation or conduct of this course. Please confirm that my understanding is correct." Then get a letter signed by whoever signed the contract that essentially repeats your question as a statement. It will probably be easier to get this going with a personal meeting than with an exchange of mail.

Then put copyright notices on everything. You might also want to record your lectures: http://bbrown.spsu.edu/papers/podcasting/podcasting_protects_ip.html

(I am not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. If you think the materials are worth tens of thousands of dollars, you need an IP lawyer.)

Edited to add: Take note of MarkJ's answer here and consider putting all your stuff on a personal web page with copyright notices attached. I've used the Creative Commons licenses for my own stuff. Publishing it that way won't keep others from using it, but will preserve your claim to authorship.

Answer 4

Simply write "Copyright: Your Name. Do not copy." Putting your name on it leaves them a way in in case they want to contact you for possible re-use or collaboration. The "do not copy" (or similar desired "term of use") puts your explicit intentions on the document, in this case reserving all rights to yourself. I personally put the latter part in a different font so that it stands out as a "meta-item" of the document.

Otherwise, if you think the "cat's out of the bag" on your material already, the best way to protect it is to publish it to the web, where the Internet can form a historical record for your creation and the community can now help you with fair credit assignment.

Answer 5

I think we are missing the main point here: are talking about intellectual property.

I do not agree with the idea that pedagogical design is different from research based on the fact that the former was created to serve an audience (e.g.; students). Under the same premise, the copyrights of a composer's opera commissioned by an Opera House would belong to the opera house. Under the same premise, the copyrights of all commercially published handbooks should belong to the universities if the author happens to work, even part-time, to a university.

There is no question that customizing materials for a class, preparing a lesson, or doing specific handouts, powerpoints comes with the job of being an instructor. However, if a teacher prepares a whole course in his/her free time (e.g. summers) that is not bound to the school where s/he works, and furthermore, with the intent to publish it. Then, I think these materials belong to the teacher.

I find problematic all this idea that it is OK to defend intellectual property only when it is research. I think it is a reflection on the view of teaching as a second class citizen in some academic circles.

Answer 6

You are being paid to teach a course, which means you're getting paid to create things like power point presentations, OR simply write on the black board... Since you're choosing to create a more concrete item, this is your choice, and that is still the property of your faculty. Whatever you create is being governed & paid by the faculty.

What investment are you talking about?? Please don't be delusional. You're not writing a research paper which is being published under your name. You're relaying information to your students. This information is out there because you were paid to create it. There is no investment here.

You're trying to get paid say $50,000 to create things for your course, teach it, and then get paid again for the same material!

That makes absolutely no sense! Find another field of work if you want to get royalties.