To determine this, you will have to look to your institution's data ownership policy. If there is no policy defining data ownership for that individual in that situation, the individual's estate owns the data and files. There are numerous matters to consider. Copyright law (federal law, deriving from the U. S. Constitution) gives the "expression" of the information, once "fixed in a physical medium" (written on paper, put on a computer data storage medium that is not ephemeral) to the creator. The creator may contract that away. It is a practice in some industries, that an employee signs an agreement that certain defined works (which can be as wide as everything they do) belong to the employer. Both some contract language and some court decisions have limited this to work done for the employer, or work in the field of employment, or other limitations. A published university policy (usually under the name of governing board) applicable to all employees, or all of a certain class (e.g., faculty), may have the effect of an individually signed contract. A state institution may be subject to state laws, which have to be read and interpreted carefully. A university data ownership policy, if there is one, may claim ownership of the "data (sources)", i.e., the physical materials on which the information is stored. It might, though very unusual for a university, claim the "data (broadly)", i.e., both the physical materials and the information in them. The claim of ownership might be based on the purposes for which the data is gathered. For example, it might apply to work done for sponsored programs, or work done in which the institution's name is involved. If the institution has a "misconduct in scholarly work" policy, it might claim ownership in the data sources, in order that it can take steps to sequester, preserve and examine the materials in relation to resolving questions of misconduct. It might claim ownership in data sources that create intellectual property belonging to the institution, in order to protect it's IP interests (e.g., data sources that document a patent claim). It might claim ownership in data sources in order to be able to fulfill its responsibilities to external funding sources (e.g., to prepare and submit a report the individual can no longer produce). It might claim ownership in cases where the data sources contain information directly involving others whose interests can be adversely affected by its unavailability, e.g., a collaborator, graduate student, or thesis advisee. In this last case, there may be questions to be answered regarding who gathered the data, even if recorded in someone else's files (a strong reason for requiring each individual to record her own data and then share it as needed). A further thing to consider is differentiating between the "original source documents" and the information contained in them. It is very difficult to claim the information, per se, for other than IP reasons. Also you need to differentiate between primary data gathered by the individual and secondary data gathered from other sources. Generally under copyright law the copyright interest in the secondary data applies only to the selection of data from the primary sources. And you need to consider the difference between the data and the interpretations/conclusions drawn from it, which under copyright law does belong to the writer. If there is an institutional policy, there is still the consideration of what the institution will do with it. It is my personal opinion that, given a policy, the institution should claim only those interests required to protect institutional interests, either corporately or for others in the institutional community. That institutional interest may be protected by an agreement with those to whom it transfers custody of the records, providing for access to those who need the information, or reversion of various rights if the new custodian abuses the trust of the agreement. In the case you have described, it is my opinion that the institution may have a duty to, say, a thesis advisee, to insure access to information, if there is a policy under which it can exercise rights. It may also have a duty to require access in cases of misconduct. But the work was the product of the deceased faculty member, and all rights not provided for in a policy, revert to the estate. Chuck At 04:18 PM 4/12/2004, you wrote: >Hello all: > > A faculty member of ours recently died. Who owns their > data, files, research that was worked on. The faculty member did not > have funding from the government or foundations - but did research on > historical data . Does this material become the property of the > University or does it become a part of their estate? What happens > to a thesis of a graduate student the person may be been counseling? > >I thank you in advance for your comments. > > Eleanor Cicinsky > > >====================================================================== >Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including >subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via >our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") >====================================================================== Herbert B. Chermside, CRA Virginia Commonwealth University PO BOX 980568 Richmond, VA 23298-0568 Voice: 804-827-6036 Fax 804-828-2051 e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================
