Intellectual Property

Excelsior University is committed to advancing leadership in teaching, learning, and instructional design and to providing an exceptional student experience. To these ends, and to serve the public good, Excelsior University encourages creativity and development of intellectual property by its faculty, staff, and students.

The purpose of this policy is to establish criteria governing ownership of such intellectual property.

Intellectual property includes:

1. Materials developed by faculty or staff in the course of their employment, utilizing Excelsior resources, or while receiving compensation from Excelsior expressly to develop such materials. The University regards all such materials as “works written for hire,” and retains exclusive ownership of such materials, together with the exclusive right to revise, publish, and distribute such materials, whether in print, electronically, or through any other means. Traditional academic copyrightable works are an exception to this rule and are defined as follows:
   1. Traditional academic copyrightable works are a subset of copyrightable scholarly, pedagogical, artistic, and literary works created by Excelsior faculty or staff at the Creator’s initiative using generally available Excelsior resources for traditional academic purposes where the Creator(s), rather than the institution, determines the subject matter, approach, and direction of the work. Generally available resources are resources usually and customarily provided to University faculty and staff, such as salary, office computers, networks, equipment, ordinary library services, and ordinary technical support.
   2. Examples of traditional academic copyrightable works include—but are not limited to—scholarly books, textbooks, instructional materials, lecture notes, instructional media, open educational resources, research articles, presentations, novels, poems, films, videos, musical compositions and performances, dramatic compositions and performances, visual works of art, performance art, and other scholarly, pedagogical, artistic, or literary works produced in any medium.
   3. Traditional academic copyrightable works do not include institutional works. Institutional works are:
   1. works initiated by and collaboratively produced under the direction of a department of the University, that have been or will be developed over time by multiple individuals, where it is not possible to attribute authorship to a specific person or group. Online courses collaboratively produced and updated over time are subject to this provision; however, specific scholarly, pedagogical, artistic, and literary works used within a course may qualify as traditional academic copyrightable works.
   2. works produced at the direction of the University to support administrative functions. Examples include written policies, personnel manuals, administrative handbooks, public relations materials, software for use by the University, and official University web pages.
   3. works produced with greater than incidental use of University resources. Examples include use of special directed University funds, a significant quantity of media development, significant research assistance, significant technical support, and other dedicated assistance of university employees.
   4. works produced by independent contractors for the University.

   The University cedes copyright ownership to Creators of traditional academic copyrightable works but retains a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, revise, publish, and distribute such works for the University’s educational and research purposes. Any use of the University’s name or marks on such works, other than to identify the Creator’s affiliation with the University, must be approved in advance by the University.

   The University may choose to modify or cede its copyright ownership of an institutional work through written agreement with the Creator(s) of the work.

2. Materials developed in collaboration with other entities. Ownership of such materials will be determined by the provisions of agreements between or among the parties in each such case. Such agreements will describe the nature of the undertaking, the role of each party, and the nature and proposed use of the end-product; the agreement will specify the rights of each party with respect to such materials.

 

3. Materials developed by Excelsior faculty or staff outside of working hours and not involving significant use of Excelsior-owned or administered resources or intellectual property of the University, or materials developed prior to employment by the University. Excelsior claims no ownership of such materials.

 

4. Materials developed by Excelsior students. Students own copyright in works they create as students. Through written agreement with all known Creators, the University may obtain a license to use, revise, publish, and distribute such works. In the case of a student who is employed or contracted by the University, provisions for materials developed by Excelsior faculty or staff apply to works created by the student as a university employee. Excelsior claims no ownership of materials created by students outside the scope of their work as a student or university employee.

Are Exceptions of Policy Allowed?

The following conditions apply to copyrightable works when they are submitted for inclusion in the Library Institutional Repository or publication on the University website:

1. Excelsior University receives the non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, preserve, display, copy, distribute, and prepare derivatives of the work (with appropriate attribution), and to make the work available in any format for educational or research purposes.
2. The copyright holder must sign a letter of agreement which includes language clarifying intellectual property ownership, conditions for its reuse, and in the case of students, waiving any privacy rights granted by FERPA, to make the work publicly available.

PROCEDURE

This procedure includes the following categories:

• Course Development
• Procedure for Uploading Content to the Scholarly Open Access Repository (SOAR)

Course Development

Each course developer or subject matter expert will sign a Letter of Agreement acknowledging that their work is on a fee-for-service basis and that any copyright or other intellectual property rights created by them under the Agreement is the sole property of Excelsior University.

Procedure for Uploading Content to the Scholarly Open Access Repository at Excelsior University

The procedure for uploading content onto SOAR falls within the scope and professional expertise of the Excelsior University librarians.

Step 1. Understand Eligibility and Guidelines

• Familiarize yourself with the institutional repository’s submission guidelines viewable on the SOAR website.
• Check the eligibility criteria for the types of works accepted by the repository.
• Ensure your work aligns with the repository’s focus and scope.

Step 2. Prepare Your Work

• Convert your work into a digital format.
• Ensure the file is accessible and compatible with the repository’s system.

Step 3. Collect Necessary Information

• Gather details such as author information, co-authors, acknowledgments, and funding sources.
• Collect bibliographic information including title, publication date, and publisher details.
• Verify any copyright and licensing information related to your work.

Step 4. Submit Your Work

• Faculty: Submit work to their executive dean for review.
• Students: Submit work to their instructor for review.
• Staff and alumni: Submit work to the scholarly communications librarian.
• Executive deans: Submit approved student and faculty works to the scholarly communications librarian.
• Access the institutional repository submission portal or contact the scholarly communications librarian for direct submission instructions.
• Complete the SOAR submission agreement form, indicating your confirmation and acknowledgement of authorship, your copyright ownership, Excelsior’s rights regarding use of the work, your selection of a Creative Commons license, and waiver of any applicable privacy rights.
• Review your submission to ensure all provided information is accurate.
• Double check the uploaded file to ensure it’s the correct version and opens correctly.
• Confirm your submission by agreeing to any required terms and conditions.
• Submit the digital file of your work along with the SOAR submission agreement form.

Step 5. Post-Submission

• After submitting your work, the scholarly communication librarian or designated librarian will review it for compliance.
• Once approved, the work will be published in the institutional repository.
• You will receive a notification or confirmation once the work is successfully published.
• Keep the repository information handy for future reference, citation, or sharing purposes.