Teacher as the producer of copyright protected material

Teacher has copyright to the works he makes and the teacher has right to decide how the works may be used. Teacher’s rights are not transferred to the university as an employer and the university, its employees, teachers, researches, students etc. may not use the material otherwise but in accordance with the copyright exceptions unless otherwise agreed upon separately. See further  Exceptions and  How to acquire rights and co-operation projects.

If the material is made together with other persons the other persons have also copyright to the material and if permission is needed to use the material it has to be asked from each creator. If the work is not regarded as work containing works joined together, meaning that each work contribution may be separated from each other, it is a joint work and individual teacher may not alone decide how the material is used. See further Creator(s) of the work and how to use works made by several creators.

When you are making teaching material, writing books or articles think whether you want you want to allow also other persons at the university to use your works and on what conditions you would be ready to give user rights. When you are giving user rights you can use e.g. Creative Commons licenses. With Creative Commons licenses the creator offers part of his rights to anyone using the work on certain conditions he determines himself. Licenses and more information is available at website of Creative Commons Finland.

When you are making contracts with publishers or otherwise transferring your rights, remember to maintain yourself such user rights that you can use your works appropriately in your own work at the university. If you do not maintain yourself enough rights when you are transferring rights, you may not be able to attach your works as part of your teaching programme or research work. It would also be desirable that you maintain yourself such rights that the material may be used appropriately at the whole university.