Intellectual Property

To further its goal of making education accessible to as many people as possible, the Technical College System of Georgia owns the intellectual property rights in all works produced by or for the department and its member colleges. In order for the department to utilize the best and fullest extent of all works produced for it and provided for the department's use, anyone producing work for the department and anyone providing work for the department's use, represents and warrants that such works:

• Do not violate any law.
• Do not violate or infringe any intellectual property right (including but not limited to copyright, trademark, patent, or right of publicity) of any person, company, or firm.
• Do not libel, defame, or invade the privacy of any person or firm.

Athens Technical College Policy: Intellectual Property Rights

Athens Technical College (ATC) encourages innovation and creativity and condones the development of intellectual property-property created by the human mind that is subject to protection by trademark, patent, copyright, or trade secret law. In most instances, intellectual property refers to intangible assets such as literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works; computer software, multimedia presentations, games, or videos; and designs, discoveries, or inventions. Athens Technical College acknowledges and agrees that all students and faculty or staff members shall have exclusive property rights to any and all intellectual property they create on their own time and without the use of Athens Technical College resources. Otherwise, the intellectual property shall be considered to belong to Athens Technical College.

Full rights of ownership, to include compensation, copyright, and use of revenue, thus reside solely with the student or faculty/staff member when the following criteria are met:

• The product or work results solely from individual initiative and not as a result of a college class assignment in the case of students or a college work assignment in the case of faculty or staff members; AND
• The product or work did not require substantial use of college facilities, equipment, or supplies, and did not emanate from any other college-owned copyright.

Students are specifically prohibited from using college-owned equipment or resources for creation of works for hire; however, both students and employees are permitted to include works they’ve created, even those resulting from course or college assignments, as items representative of their skills and abilities in a personal portfolio.