Board of Trustees Manual

Policy No. 5095 Board Approved: February 15, 2022 Reviewed or Revised:

Intellectual Property

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

Hagerstown Community College (hereinafter “the College”) supports and encourages the creation, development, presentation and delivery of new intellectual works and endeavors, including works of art, literature, technology, as well as related technology-based instruction processes and creation of software products by its faculty, staff, and other employees and consultants.

Purpose and Scope The purpose of the College’s IP Policy is to support the creation and

dissemination of intellectual property, while simultaneously defining individual and institutional ownership and use rights in such intellectual property and the distribution of revenues and other benefits that accrue from the creation and commercialization of intellectual property. This policy also confirms the non-competition obligations of faculty and staff in the use, display or sale of intellectual property works that are subject to this IP Policy. I. Definitions For purposes of this Policy, the following definitions shall apply: a. Copyright/Copyrightable Work - The Copyright Law of the United States protects original works of authorship that are fixed in any tangible medium of expression. In the context of copyright law, “original” means that the work has notbeen copied, i.e., it is an entirely independent creation. A work is “fixed” in a tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy or phonorecord is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. Under U.S. Copyright law, software is generally protected under copyright law, though in some cases software may be the subject of patent protection. For the purposes of this Policy, software used to disseminate knowledge, (e.g., course notes created in and/or distributed through CD-ROM technology) is copyrightable. To the extent that such software is subject to patent protection, this Policy applies to ownership of patentable software as well.

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