TEXAS my state!

Copyright Mess - Work for Hire

Tim at Assorted Stuff
asks a series of copyright questions. While I don’t have the answers
personally, I do have a copy of Carol Mann Simpson’s Copyright
for Schools: A Practical Guide (4th Edition). I’ve included
Tim’s questions (in bold lettering) and what I believe are the
relevant sections from Carol’s book appear in italics:

Does the fact that you work for a company or school district mean
that any ideas created during the time they pay you become their
intellectual property?

If a classroom teacher create a resources for a class she’s teaching,
then compiles them into a book she will offer to a publisher, there is a
catch. The teacher’s district owns the copyright in the resources,
barring any contract or agreement that would restrict that
arrangement. The reason this is true is that the resources were
created as part of the teacher’s job. This concept is known as
"work for hire." Just about anything a teacher does within the context
of his or her job could be claimed as the intellectual property of the
school.

If I was an hourly worker, I would think that something I produced
off the clock was mine. But most of us are on salary, so are our
creative processes part of the mix 24/7?

A common question is to inquire if doing the work at home or on
weekends or vacation makes any difference in the work for hire rules.
Actually, no, it makes no difference. If the work was done "within
the scope of employment" it matters little where or when the work was
done. However, if you create something that’s clearly not for the
job you do for the district (e.g. work was for fourth grade science
but you write a college physics textbook in your spare time at
home, the school would be hard pressed to convince a court that this
work was part of your work as a fourth grade science teacher).

What if I produced some materials during summer break, tried them out
in my classroom in the fall, and then wanted to package them for sale to
other teachers?

No, according to my reading of Carol’s information in italics above.

Supposed I started offering paid workshops using concepts repackaged
from my experience in the classroom and what I’ve learned from others
(there are plenty of examples of this!).

This one is a little harder, but I wonder if this part wouldn’t be
relevant: Since a teacher doesn’t own the copyright in the work made
for hire, he has the same limitations on materials he created as the
average teacher-on-the-street…If a teacher changes districts, he
should ask the district he is leaving if he may have permission to
continue to use and/or adapt those materials. Get that permission in
writing.

My reading of this is that you wouldn’t have the right to repackage
anything from your experience in a classroom that you worked if you
didn’t have permission from the school district in writing first.

Fascinating stuff to read. I urge you to invest
in Carol’s book.