Creating Work at NCSU
Who owns my theses or dissertation?
You do. Generally students at NCSU own their own work although NCSU retains a right to include your thesis or dissertation in the Libraries' collections.
Who owns academic work produced by faculty at NCSU?
Generally faculty own their own work unless or until they sign a publication agreement transferring their rights.
Who owns work produced by staff at NCSU?
Work created by SPA employees are generally considered work for hire and are owned by the university. Work created by SPA employees that was not created as part of their employment, not on work time may still belong to the individual employee.
My professor and I collaborated to create a work. Who owns that?
Questions about joint ownership generally come down to the agreement between the parties that are collaborating. For joint ownership to exist both parties must contribute copyrightable elements and both parties must intend to share copyright ownership. If you are uncertain about ownership of a collaborate work it is best to
I'm a graduate student who works in a lab. Who owns my work product?
In general work created in a lab belongs to the project leader or the institution.
How is copyright ownership related to authorship and academic credit?
Although we often speak about an "author's copyrights," academic credit is not the same as copyright ownership. Copyright ownership may rest with a single professor or with NCSU but multiple contributors may still be due academic credit or scholarly attribution. Questions about authorship and academic credit are generally not questions of law and should be adjudicated by your department or experts in your field.