At the April 2001 faculty meeting, a modification to the University Policy on Intellectual Property was passed, including a Statement of Principles on Electronic Courseware. (To see the full text of the new Copyright Policy, click here).

Most of the substantive changes relate to copyrights in software. To help guide faculty in interpreting these new policies, the following is a brief explanation of the changes. Anyone with additional questions should contact John Ritter, the Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at ext. 1570.

The University asserts rights in copyrights in three situations:

1. where copyrightable material is developed by individuals whose specifically assigned duties include the preparation of that material (no change from previous policy);
2. where substantial resources specifically designated for the development of the copyrightable material has been used (the words "specifically designated" have been added); and
3. where the copyrightable material is developed under a sponsored research agreement with the government or another third party (no substantive change from prior policy).

Software

If you develop software as part of your research, or on your own time, then it is "Copyright © < year > < your-name >." It is a good idea to put this copyright notice at the beginning of every source file, in the documentation, and in a place where it can be seen by the user of the software.

You may wish to distribute your software in a noncommercial way. In this case you may generally do so without seeking permission (See below, "Advice About Licenses," for relevant information).

If the software is developed under grant funding, then the copyright notice remains "Copyright © < year > < your-name >," but the University has the exclusive rights to commercialize the software (royalties are shared with the authors as described in the Policy). If you believe the software was developed outside the scope of items 1, 2 , and 3 above, then you may own the rights to commercialize it.

To commercialize it, you must disclose it to the University's Office of Technology and Licensing. In the case where you believe the software has commercial value, or if you intend to commercialize it, then you must disclose it to the University's Office of Technology and Licensing prior to commercializing it so that they may determine whether it was developed under grant funding, for example.

Advice About Licenses

When you distribute software noncommercially, it is good to attach statement of license terms. A license should include:

1. a statement that there is no warranty

2. terms explaining who can use it, in what way, and for what purposes

In general, you should use your own name and not Princeton University's on the license. If you disclose the software to the Office of Technology and Licensing for assistance in its commercialization, Princeton's name may thereafter be utilized on the copyright.

Examples:

• The X-windows license:

  "You can do anything you want with this, including sell it and modify it, but you can't delete the copyright notice or use the author's name in your own advertising."

• The GNU General Public License:

  "You can use, modify, or sell this software, but you must always provide source code when you distribute it."

• A noncommercial-use-only license:

  "You can use or modify this software, but only for noncommercial purposes. To seek a commercial-use license, contact the author."

© 2003 - 2006  Office of Technology Licensing
PO Box 36, 4 New South Building
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 
FAX: 609/258-1159

John F. Ritter, Director : 609/258-1570
William H. Gowen, Technology Licensing Associate : 609/258-6762
Laurie Tzodikov, Licensing Associate : 609/258-7256