[game_edu] Student IP Ownership (Fwd)

[Ian Schreiber]

I thought the question of legality of IP ownership was interesting, so I submitted it to Jim Charne, writer of the monthly "Famous Last Words" legal column for the IGDA.
 
Below is his response.

--- On Thu, 10/9/08, Jim Charne <charne at sprintmail.com> wrote:

From: Jim Charne <charne at sprintmail.com>
Subject: your FLW question --
To: ai864 at yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, October 9, 2008, 1:48 PM


Great question, Ian -- I will work on it and it will appear in the column shortly.

Bottom line is that under federal law, copyright vests in the creator of a work.  It can only be transferred by a written instrument (unless someone is an employee -- I have not heard anyone argue that a student is an employee of his or her college).

Unless there is something in the documents signed by the student (or his or her parents if a minor), so long as the work is the individual work of the student, it is hard for me to see how the school can claim ownership of the IP. 

Jim



      
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