what is the turnitin copyright claim?
At UW, we've been advised that undergraduates control the copyright on anything they produce through coursework, but that the university controls the copyright on anything that graduate students produce through coursework. I don't know who uses turnitin here, but it is probably reasonable to offer an opt-out option to undergraduates. Since there are a growing number of exaggerated copyright claims, I looked for Turnitin's copyright policy. This was all I found http://www.turnitin.com/static/usage.html http://www.turnitin.com/static/pdf/datasheet_ip.pdf It seems like a media relations pamphlet, but I did not see that they were claiming exclusive copyright over the materials that undergraduates upload. In fact they are claiming the opposite, a "non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, irrevocable license to reproduce, transmit, display, disclose, and otherwise use your Communications on the Site or elsewhere for our business purposes." So this comes back to the ethics...I don't think we should force students to give up their exclusive copyright. I also agree with Dan, we don't know until it's litigated. Phil Philip N. Howard Assistant Professor Department of Communication University of Washington
On Mar 9 2007, Philip N Howard wrote:
At UW, we've been advised that undergraduates control the copyright on anything they produce through coursework, but that the university controls the copyright on anything that graduate students produce through coursework.
Really? I don't see how a rule that binary can possibly be true. Do your graduate students sign something that your undergraduates don't? DLB -- Dan L. Burk Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Professor University of Minnesota Law School 229 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 ********************************** voice: 612-626-8726 fax: 612-625-2011 bits: burkx006@umn.edu
Re: post-graduate (graduate) vs. under-grad copyright --- burkx006@umn.edu wrote:
On Mar 9 2007, Philip N Howard wrote:
At UW, we've been advised that undergraduates control the copyright on
Yes at Southern Cross University, for each section of the graduate thesis that exist as single papers, for example, the student and the supervisor 'sign off' on the appropriate authorship share for that document. If it is then published in a journal, the 'authors' hold copyright along with the journal - doesn't the journal keep the 'rights of distribution and re-publication' and the authors keep the 'intellectual content' If the thesis is whole, such as a book, that will be declared in an authorship statement for the thesis as a whole. If it is then published, see above. As I understand it, the university holds the 'publisher' license to distribute and re-publish and the authors hold the content. Therefore if the thesis goes to Digital theses the copyright is declared as the University on behalf of the author (I think). For undergraduates, the authors hold the content and the university does not make a claim. A bit sketchy but there is a distinction in how we do this here at SCU in Australia. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD thesis, "Locating four pathways to internet scholarship" School of Env. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tues: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/ Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
participants (3)
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burkx006@umn.edu -
Denise N. Rall -
Philip N Howard