Policy 8.1215

Ownership of Works

1. Purpose. The School Board recognizes the need for the Superintendent to assign persons to positions which entail full or partial job responsibilities to develop educational materials, schedules, data processing programs, curriculum bulletins, and other products of creative effort (hereinafter works) which assist the basic instructional program or the various systems supporting that instructional program in the School District. This policy is to provide for the ownership of such works which come within the subject matter of the copyright or patent laws, as books, dramas, computer generated slides, motion pictures, video tapes, educational software, radio scripts, television productions, printed lessons, bulletins, guides, art work, machinery and apparatus, now known or later developed, and others not mentioned but not to be construed as omitted.

2. Rights of Ownership of Materials Developed During Employment. The Board owns the copyright on works developed by employees in the normal course of their regularly prescribed duties and within the time period that the School District requires such persons to be on duty, or which are developed from the use of School District's equipment and other resources. Any such works shall remain the property of the School Board, and the School Board shall retain all rights, privileges and responsibilities pertaining to the ownership thereof, subject to Florida's Public Records Law.

   1. Some programs, computer software, web pages and materials thus developed are wholly owned by the School Board and/or are eligible for copyright. In regards to such works,

      1. The Superintendent shall, when appropriate, take whatever action is necessary to obtain copyrights for such works developed by and for the Palm Beach County Public Schools.

      2. The Superintendent may grant others the right to reproduce work copyrighted by the Board under such terms as may be appropriate. The reproduction must include the copyright and give acknowledgment to the authors.

      3. The Superintendent may enter into an agreement with others to produce, in part or in whole, a work for the Board. Such persons are "workers for hire", and the work produced is "work made for hire". For products developed by such persons, the products shall remain the property of the School Board, and the School Board retains all rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertaining to the ownership of the product or work. The School Board shall be considered the author for the purposes of ownership of copyright, owning all rights comprised in the copyright, unless all parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them.

      4. The Board authorizes the Superintendent to market any such works at a cost that shall cover printing, mailing and royalty.

      5. The Board may enter into an agreement with a private publisher to publish Board material for sale and distribution; and

      6. If the Board markets a resource profitably, it may compensate the creative employee.

3. Copyright Inscription. At the time of the initial publication of a document, a copyright inscription is included on the title page or cover, or the reverse side of those pages. In the case of audiovisual works, the notice can be inscribed by any means as long as it appears whenever the work is performed in its entirety, such as with or near the title, with the credits, immediately following the beginning of the works, or immediately preceding the end of the works, The copyright inscription of works of the School District shall read as follows:

   Copyright (year)
   By the
   School Board of Palm Beach County
   West Palm Beach, Florida

4. Rights of Students. Students shall own the copyright in the works that they create, except for the copyright in photographs taken by students for school publications with equipment, supplies and resources provided by the School District shall be the property of the School District.

   1. Parental Permission Required. Parental permission is required:

      1. To reproduce works of students who are not of legal age. If the student is of legal age, the student may grant permission for the use of his or her works.

      2. To display any student work outside the school at such sites as teachers' conventions, conferences, public libraries, central office or shopping centers.

   2. When Parental Permission Is Not Required. Permission is not required to display a student's work within the school.

   3. Securing Annual Parental Permission for Recording or Taping Students. Each school will request and file permissions from parents/guardians at the beginning of each school year to record and/or tape their child(ren) for possible performance.

5. Administrative Guidelines. The Superintendent shall be responsible for ensuring that administrative guidelines for this policy are effectively implemented throughout the system.