Copyright Restrictions
We respect and adhere to the well-established copyright and patent laws which exist to protect intellectual property. Instructors must use care when using other people’s content such as readings, images, videos, etc. in their online and classroom-based courses. Here are a few key guidelines to consider as you compile materials for your course:
- Instructors are solely responsible for complying with all copyright laws.
- Limited portions of copyrighted materials can be used in the classroom under “Fair Use” laws. Please note that any copyrighted material used under “Fair Use” must be properly cited. For guidelines regarding what is/is not considered “Fair Use”, please refer to the University of California Copyright website.
- Written permission for use of copyrighted materials must be obtained from the copyright owner if you wish to use a copyrighted work in its entirety or if that work can be downloaded or removed from the physical classroom. You must obtain this written permission from the copyright owner for every quarter that the materials are used.
- The absence of copyright notice on the material does not mean that the work in question may be freely copied.
- We encourage the use of public domain and “Creative Commons” materials, as these materials are freely available to use (although subject to certain limitations). Again, always be sure to properly cite these materials should you use them in your course.
Additional information about UC copyright polices can be accessed at the University of California Copyright website.
Recording,Taping and Filming
- The material presented in UCI Division of Continuing Education programs may not be recorded or reproduced for commercial use without permission from the Dean of UCI Division of Continuing Education.
- Although tape recording for personal use is not encouraged, you may permit it.
Intellectual Property
Instructors’ intellectual property rights are influenced by the type of agreement you are offered. There are two main types of agreements we extend to instructors regardless of whether you are hired on as an employee or as an independent contractor.
Instructor (Teaching) Agreement
When UCI Division of Continuing Education hires you to teach a course, your agreement is specifically for teaching and not for course development. Of course, you will need to develop content and UCI Division of Continuing Education will perform some quality assurance on that content, but you will own the intellectual property rights on that content. Remember, when you sign a teaching agreement your final deliverable is the teaching of the course – not the actual content of the course. The University will possess your content only in the sense that we make it available to students over our course management system to support your teaching. Please note, however, that the final course syllabus will remain the property of UCI Division of Continuing Education.
Development Agreement
In some rare cases, UCI Division of Continuing Education may wish to own the contents of a course and may hire you to develop the course in a work-for-hire arrangement. The University would then own the intellectual property rights of the materials you create. Most likely, we would also want to hire you to teach the course and would compensate you separately on a teaching contract.