Copyright

WHO IS THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER?

In most cases, the author or creator of the work is the initial copyright holder. If the work is created as part of a person's employment, it may be a "work for hire," meaning that the employer is instead the copyright holder. In the university setting, faculty writings and other "traditional works of scholarship"  are typically not considered to be works for hire.

If two or more people together create a work, they are joint holders of the copyright. Joint owners each have an equal right to exercise and enforce the copyright.

Copyright can be transferred from the original author to another person or entity through a signed, written agreement. Publishing agreements often involve a transfer of copyright, where the publisher becomes the rights holder, rather than the author.

Many publishers’ contracts restrict authors' subsequent usage of their published work in their teaching and research. For example, contracts often impede placing the published work:

• on course websites
• in a course-pack
• in scholarly presentations
• on the author’s personal web page
• and in Institutional repositories

Search Sherpa/RoMEO tool to find out publishers' copyright policies and sef-archiving. 

THESES/DISSERTATIONS COPYRIGHT

• Theses and dissertations fall within the unpublished materials category protected by copyright.
• Students hold copyright over their theses/dissertations. They grant to the university a non-exclusive right to preserve and distribute the manuscript to the public for educational and scholarly purposes only.
• Students keep all moral and commercial rights over their manuscripts.
• Students are required to submit a copy of their theses/dissertations to the University of Balamand Libraries for preservation and research purposes in order to make it available to the public.
• Students are required to sign the Project/Thesis/Dissertation Deposit Form, which includes a non-exclusive copyright release that gives the University the right to:

  - Deposit a copy in the UOB Libraries and in not-for-profit repositories when required;
  - Make the work openly accessible to the public in any medium for research and educational purposes only;
  - Reproduce, copy, and/or translate the work in print or electronic formats without changing the content for preservation and access purposes.

  Any subsequent agreement including publishing contracts should take into consideration the above-mentioned rights and respect the eligibility of the University to exercise these rights as permitted by the laws.