Intellectual Property Casual academics generally have the same rights as permanent academic staff to intellectual property created as part of their employment. The general rule of thumb is that intellectual property in works created in the course of your employment (such as new course materials or a new course) belongs to the University. However this position is often modified by University policy and/or the Enterprise Agreement: for example, if you have developed materials with market appeal, the University might grant you a license to sell that work in certain circumstances. Remember that if you are not paid to do research, the University will have no claim over any intellectual property relating to your research activities. Under Federal law, you also have moral rights in relation to works created in the course of your employment. Your moral rights include: • Attribution of authorship. • The right to not have authorship of a work falsely attributed. • The right to not have your work altered without your permission. If an intellectual property issue arises in relation to your employment, make sure you get individual advice from your local NTEU Branch office.
Intellectual Freedom Casual academics should have the same rights and responsibilities with respect to academic freedom as ongoing and fixed term academic staff. Intellectual freedom includes the rights of all staff to: • Participate in public debates and express opinions about issues and ideas related to their discipline area or areas of professional expertise, and about higher education issues more generally. • Make comment outside their discipline or areas of professional expertise as long as they clearly do so on their own behalf and do not claim to represent the University or present their comments in such a way as might be reasonably linked to the University. • Express unpopular or controversial views, but this does not mean the right to harass, bully, vilify, defame or intimidate. • Pursue critical and open inquiry and to freely discuss, teach, assess, develop curricula, publish and research subject to the laws and customs of the jurisdiction in which they are operating. NTEU has campaigned hard to ensure that Enterprise Agreements enshrine intellectual freedom – often against the opposition of university managements. Your Agreement protects the rights of academic staff to engage in critical inquiry, intellectual discourse and public debate.
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Smart Casuals - Murdoch University Branch