Academic freedom: a lawyer’s perspective

Davies, Mark

doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9884-8

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the UK, Davies (2015) investigated the approaches of UK universities towards academic freedom by studying 81 UK university copyright policies as they related to teaching materials. He found that 20% of policies allowed academics to Bretain copyright in all materials, usually with an accompanying licence benefitting the university with regard to some teaching materials^; 25% of policies asserted Binstitutional copyright over teaching materials, but grant[ed] a licence to the academic originator for future use^, however the largest proportion, 55%, of policies asserted institutional copyright without any accompanying licence to academic staff.…”

Section: Previous Studies Of Copyright Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a further two 'closed' policies were obtained directly from the university, making the total number of staff policies analysed 81 (62%). (The fact that Davies (2015) also performed his analysis on 81 policies is a coincidence and there is no way of knowing whether they belonged to the same institutions. )…”

Section: Policy Availability and Mission Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst UK university copyright ownership policy positions towards teaching materials aligns with the guidance proffered by HEFCE (2006), it is at odds with the views and expectations of academic staff. UK scholars (Pila 2010;Rahmatian 2014;and Davies 2015) all make a strong case for, if not academic ownership, at least shared ownership. In fact, only 10 of the 70 (14%) UK copyright policies analysed offered some form of shared ownership via licensing for e-learning materials (nine out of 70 for internal teaching materials).…”

Section: Copyright Ownership Of Teaching and E-learning Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Universities are keen to protect any investment they make in such initiatives by asserting their rights over the resulting product (Cate et al 2007;HEFCE 2006). However academics, already wary about the commodification of higher education, are becoming increasingly nervous about any attempts by universities to commercialise what they see to be their intellectual property (Davies 2015). As Literat (2015) writes Bthe commercial agreements between MOOCs and educational institutions often conflict with the common institutional policy approach that grants intellectual property rights to faculty who develop the course.^Thus the issue of who owns the rights in teaching materials has become the subject of much debate (see Pila 2010;Rahmatian 2014;Blanchard 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Copyright ownership of e-learning and teaching materials: Policy approaches taken by UK universities

Gadd

Weedon

2017

Educ Inf Technol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Investigates whether and how UK university copyright policies address key copyright ownership issues relating to printed and electronic teaching materials. A content analysis of 81 UK university copyright policies is performed to understand their approach towards copyright ownership of printed and e-learning materials and performances; rights on termination of contract; rights of non-staff contributors. Crosstabulations are performed with the mission group and age of copyright policy. 90% of copyright policies address teaching materials explicitly. Fewer universities (77%) claim ownership of internal teaching materials than e-learning materials (84%). Only 20% address performance rights, 46% address rights of non-employees, and 44% address rights on termination of contract. Russell Group universities have more liberal copyright policies around ownership of teaching materials than newer universities. Recent copyright policies are more liberal than older policies. Recommends that UK universities work with academic staff to address key copyright policy issues in a way that balances the rights of both parties. This the first empirical study of UK university copyright policy approaches towards the ownership of teaching and e-learning materials.

show abstract

Section: Previous Studies Of Copyright Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Policy Availability and Mission Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Copyright Ownership Of Teaching and E-learning Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Copyright ownership of e-learning and teaching materials: Policy approaches taken by UK universities

Gadd

Weedon

2017

Educ Inf Technol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Packard (2002;p.287) writes, "of all the arguments against the notion of university ownership of faculty work, none is more persuasive than the notion of academic freedom." Indeed, an investigation into UK universities' commitment to academic freedom by Davies (2015) used as its benchmark the degree to which universities claimed copyright ownership in teaching materials. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is also a strong advocate for an academic's right to intellectual property ownership as a means of protecting academic freedom.…”

Section: Is Copyright Ownership Synonymous With Academic Freedom?mentioning

confidence: 99%

UK university policy approaches towards the copyright ownership of scholarly works and the future of open access

Gadd

2017

AJIM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider how the open access policy environment has developed since the Rights Metadata for Open Archiving Project’s call in 2003 for universities and academics to assert joint copyright ownership of scholarly works and investigate whether UK universities are moving towards a joint copyright ownership. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses 81 UK university copyright policies to understand what proportion make a claim over: IP ownership of all outputs; the copyright in scholarly works; re-using scholarly works in specific ways; and approaches to moral rights. Results are cross-tabulated by policy age and mission group. Findings Universities have not asserted their interest in scholarly works through joint ownership, leaving research funders and publishers to set open access policy. The paper finds an increased proportion of universities assert a generic claim to all IP (87 per cent) relative to earlier studies. In total, 74 per cent of policies relinquished rights in scholarly works in favour of academic staff; 20 per cent of policies share ownership of scholarly works through licensing; 28 per cent of policies assert the right to re-use scholarly works in some way; and 32 per cent of policies seek to protect moral rights. Policies that “share” ownership of scholarly works are more recent. The UK Scholarly Communication Licence (UK-SCL) should have an impact on this area. The reliance on individual academics to enforce a copyright policy or not to opt-out of the UK-SCL could be problematic. The paper concludes that open access may still be best served by joint ownership of scholarly works. Originality/value This the first large-scale analysis of UK university policy positions towards scholarly works. The paper discovers for the first time a move towards “shared” ownership of scholarly works in copyright policies.

show abstract

Academic Freedom and the Use of Native Languages (the Italian “English-Only” Saga and Its Downsides)

Galetta

2021

Academic Freedom Under Pressure?

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Academic freedom: a lawyer’s perspective

Cited by 25 publications

References 23 publications

Copyright ownership of e-learning and teaching materials: Policy approaches taken by UK universities

Copyright ownership of e-learning and teaching materials: Policy approaches taken by UK universities

UK university policy approaches towards the copyright ownership of scholarly works and the future of open access

Academic Freedom and the Use of Native Languages (the Italian “English-Only” Saga and Its Downsides)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About