🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec16.132319.520@uoft02.utoledo.edu> dsmith@uoft02.utoledo.edu writes:
>My chairman insists that he can access this software without my permission and
>without even telling me that he is doing it.  He has refused to speak with me
>about this, but instead has gone over my head to our Dean, who has (in
>writing) made a unilateral policy decision that any resources I obtain as a
>University employee belong to the University, are controlled by the 
>University, and are openly available to any University employee, faculty or
>student, without that person having to contact me, the PI.  Our university
>does not have a written policy on this matter.

Well, IMHO your chairman and deam are thoroughly and obviously wrong.
In fact, the very assertion that someone can use resources you
obtained with grant money /without your permission/ seems completely
ludicrous.  In the case of computer systems, for example, if you do
not give them explicit access (say in the form of a user account) an
attempt on their part to use the system would constitute a break-in
attempt (electronic tresspass, a federal crime in the US... call the
Secret Service).  In the case of software, there might even be
restrictions on whom you /can/ give permission to use the software,
since you might have a license agreement that restricts who can use
the software.

Furthermore, if your institution does not have a written policy in
this regard (that you signed!), then any software written by you is
your property and your property alone.  (The author of any work
automatically has copyright ownership in most countries including the
US, unless he/she explicitly renounced such rights.)  If your work
involves porting someone elses software, then it is a derivative work,
and as such that portion that makes the work derivative is yours, i.e.
you don't own the original software, but have full and sole ownership
of the modifications that were necessary to port the software.  It is
important to note here that many academic institutions require their
faculty, staff, and students to sign a document that gives the
institution copyright ownership of any work that is produced using the
institution's resources, but if you did not sign any such document
your work is yours.

If they claim otherwise, sue them.  ;-)

--
Jurgen Botz                  |   Internet: JBotz@mtholyoke.edu
Academic Systems Consultant  |     Bitnet: JBotz@mhc.bitnet
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