Copyright applies to any original expression fixed in tangible form. Copyright exists upon the creation of an eligible work—you do not have to do anything to obtain it. A central tenet of copyright is that authors should have the right to reasonably control the use of their creative output and to receive appropriate recognition for their contribution.
At the UO, employee authors and creators will own the copyright to works and materials they create unless:
- The works were developed with significant institutional resources.
- The works were developed using funds awarded under a sponsored project or otherwise administered by the UO.
- The works were developed as a part of a specific work assignment. For example, the work was given by a supervisor or identified in an employment agreement.
The university asserts copyright ownership over only those materials that fall within the parameters defined by UO Internal Directives for Intellectual Property. Some works may be owned by their authors or creators, such as lecture notes or other educational and professional material developed without UO resources.The UO exempts material published in scholarly or professional journals without monetary compensation from any requirement to assign copyrights to the university.
Disclosure to Industry, Innovation, and Translation (IIT) is not required when:
- There’s no money involved.
- There’s no conflict of interest. (Read more about UO conflict of interest management.)
- The materials are distributed under Open Source or Creative Commons licensing.
- There is proper attribution on the work. © University of Oregon is used with copyrighted materials that should be owned by the UO.
We encourage you to reach out to IIT if you are not sure about if your project should be disclosed or if you’re interested in licensing your work.