Hello SCCKG! Questions about both third-party sponsorship and Significant University Resources for a journal article accepted for publication. A UCSF faculty member is questioning whether their article, based on research funded by UCSF and co-authored with an author at a CSU, qualifies as work-for-hire.

As I was preparing to respond "no", and point the faculty to the policy, I got thrown off by the exceptions language in the policy FAQ.

The language<https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/resources/copyright-ownership.html#:~:text=the%20University%20does,Significant%20University%20Resources.%C2%A0> in the 2021 UC Copyright Ownership Policy states that:
the University does not transfer the copyrights in Scholarly & Aesthetic Works that: (a) are either Sponsored Works, Commissioned Works (as that term is used Section III.A.5 below), or Contracted Facilities Works; (b) would put the University in violation of, or conflict with, an applicable contract, policy, or law; or (c) were created with Significant University Resources.
Questions: This article doesn't count as a Sponsored Work, but since they received UCSF funding, does that put it in the Significant University Resources category, meaning UC retains copyright? If so, who should be signing the copyright transfer agreement? Should the UCSF award specify copyright ownership?

Also, my read of the FAQ interprets sponsorship more broadly, via the highlighted text:
UC generally retains copyright in a Scholarly & Aesthetic Work if: (1) the work is sponsored by a third party funder; (2) it would be a breach of either policy, law, or contract to transfer the copyright back to the author; or (3) UC provided significant financial support for the work. See Section III.A.1 of the policy as well as the FAQs on Significant University Resources below.
 Question: isn't this language more broad than the policy itself? I interpret this to mean any sponsored Scholarly & Aesthetic Work (not just one with Significant University Resources), regardless of whether NIH, Gates, NSF, UCSF or someone else funded it. Am I reading that right?

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese