Literal Copyrights ( Academic Articles)

As lengtly defined in the first posts Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects certain kinds of original creations, including scientific papers.Copyright of the final published version of a recording may belong to the author or publisher, depending on the publisher's business model. For subscription-based journals with access to articles via a paywall, copyright is transferred from the author to the publisher. The question that arises when it comes to copyright is who owns academic copyrights? according to Connie Boutsikaris, Esq; Under the Copyright Act’s “work-made-for-hire” doctrine, a work is the property of an employer (i.e., the university) under two circumstances: (1) when the work is specially ordered or commissioned for use, including contributions to collective works, if the parties agree in writing that the work will be considered a work-made-for-hire; or (2) when the work is prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment. Since Copyright law does not define “scope of employment,” we apply general common law of agency principles, which deem an employee’s conduct to fall within the scope of employment when: “(a) it is of a kind that he or she is employed to perform; (b) it occurs substantially within the authorized time and space limits; and (c) it is actuated, at least in part, by a purpose to serve the master.” According to Connie (Boutsikaris) Stefanou; March 2015; Applying this principle to certain facts, lets say Professor Smith is a professor employed by Abe University. A large publisher commissions the professor to write an article on the basics of copyright law that will be published in a quarterly journal unaffiliated with Abe University. Professor Smith and the publisher sign a written agreement memorializing their understanding. Who owns the article – Professor Smith or the publisher? Because it is specially commissioned by the publisher for use as a contribution to the journal (i.e., a collective work), and both parties entered into a written agreement designating it as a work-made-for-hire, the article would be considered a work-made-for-hire and the property of the publisher. However, if Professor Smith and the publisher only had an oral agreement, the article would fail to meet the requirements of a work-made-for-hire, and ownership of the article would stay with Professor Smith. There is however a provision where teachers and scholers are allowed to use work or material that is copyrighted such as Images or number of pages in a book which is permitted number. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Fair Use - Most teaching- and paper-writing uses of images fall under the famous “fair use” provision (single use for scholarly purposes). Basically, fair use allows academics to use even copyrighted materials a single time to a limited audience without securing the permission of the copyright holder. I have included the video and picture of the act and the video explaining the act of 1976.

I have added an example of a copyright form.