Thanks, Katie. That does help. I went ahead and told the author that they would be following the norm to sign the copyright transfer agreement, but that if they had any reservations we can check further with Anthony.

Best,
Anneliese
________________________________
From: Katie Fortney <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2022 9:57 AM
To: Taylor, Anneliese <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: SCHOLARPUB-L <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [SCCKG] Copyright ownership question for Scholarly & Aesthetic Works

If the policy and the FAQ disagree, the policy controls. The FAQs are there to help try to clarify points of confusion in the policy, but they aren't policy themselves. They can also be revised from time to time by SSCP, whereas the policy
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If the policy and the FAQ disagree, the policy controls. The FAQs are there to help try to clarify points of confusion in the policy, but they aren't policy themselves. They can also be revised from time to time by SSCP, whereas the policy has to undergo systemwide review. The language you excerpted is trying to give a broad overview, so it skips nuance.

So: it's not a Sponsored Work, due to the definition of that term in the policy.
It's only an Institutional Work if Significant University Resources (SUR) were used for the creation of the work. If we're not sure whether an article "based on research funded by UCSF" counts as one that used SUR for its creation from the text of the policy, we can check the FAQ. (We'll assume "based on research funded by UCSF" means through grant funds or something, not the salary, office space, etc., ruled out in the policy's definition of SUR). FAQ 14<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/resources/copyright-ownership-faqs.html*14__;Iw!!LQC6Cpwp!rmiP6bxNM9gk2ms0P1ooFH1RrFgCOBFm6P6bzZfaUJ69_A4F9kCUOD0WZj3m-2RYxFEiL6wgzlPddTL_j30xzSsrmr3p27M$> says that "small internal research grants, such as" - but not limited to, emphasis mine - "grants administered by the Academic Senate or its Committee on Research" will generally not be deemed to constitute SUR.

Does that help?
(And also, your first instinct was a good one. It is extremely unlikely that, absent a written agreement to the contrary, the university would have any interest in administering the copyright in scholarly articles. There's no money in it for them, and I can't see them wanting to deal with the paperwork.)

If it's still a close enough call to be unclear, you can ask your local delegated authority (Anthony Francis, ITA) for a ruling.

Best,
Katie
Katie Fortney, J.D., M.L.I.S.
Copyright Policy & Education Officer
California Digital Library
UC Office of the President
[telecommuting from Santa Cruz]
Pronouns: she, her, hers


On Mon, Apr 11, 2022 at 5:07 PM Taylor, Anneliese <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/resources/copyright-ownership.html*:*:text=the*20University*20does,Significant*20University*20Resources.**A__;I34lJSUlwqA!!LQC6Cpwp!rmiP6bxNM9gk2ms0P1ooFH1RrFgCOBFm6P6bzZfaUJ69_A4F9kCUOD0WZj3m-2RYxFEiL6wgzlPddTL_j30xzSsrFjgeBQQ$> 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