The author is usually the owner.
Except when work-for-hire rules apply. The author's employer owns work(s) if:
- The work was created by an employee within the scope of employment, or
- The work falls within one or more of the nine statutory categories, where an agreement commissioning the work is in writing and signed by the creator or creators before work begins.
- The nine statutory categories include: contribution to a collective work; part of a movie or other audiovisual work; a translation; a supplementary work; a compilation; an instructional text; a test; answer material for a test; or an atlas
- If a work doesn't fit within the statutory definition of a work-for-hire, the employer may still own it if the author assigns the copyright to the employer or contractor.
An author-owner is free to assign copyright to anyone, so a written contract can change these basic rules. As an example, many publishers require assignment of copyright as a condition of publication
Policies, such as the Odessa College Intellectual Property Policy can also change the ownership rules.
- They can permit faculty ownership of scholarly, artistic, literary, musical, and educational materials within the author's field of expertise.
Collaborations in online environments usually involve:
- Inter-institutional collaborators or other non-affiliated collaborators
- Student contributions
- Contract labor contributions
- Non-faculty university employee contributions
In order to be joint authors of a work, each person must:
- Contribute copyrightable expression, and
- Intend at the time the work is created that all contributors will be joint owners of the whole finished work.
