> On 6 Jan 2015, at 10:32, Martin Donnelly <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Here’s an excerpt from a message posted by Peter Murray-Rust to the Open Science list last year, quoting Charles Oppenheim…
>
> "If a STUDENT has created the data as part of a project and they are self-funded, or receive a grant, then the student owns the rights to the data. If anyone else wants to use the data, they must get permission from the student. The student cannot be forced to agree. (Any attempt to REQUIRE the student to assign or license rights would be invalid in law; get the student to voluntarily agree).
I really don’t see how this can be true. Maybe it depends on the jurisdiction? Charles Oppenheim is suggesting a layman’s interpretation of UK law which may be wishful thinking.
To quote again our Statutes:
"Council may make regulations:
(1) defining the classes of persons or naming individuals to whom section 5 (1) (c) of this statute shall apply;
(2) requiring student members and such other persons as may be specified in regulations to sign any documents necessary in order to give effect to the claim made by the University in this Part and to waive any rights in respect of the subject-matter of the claim which may be conferred on them by Chapter IV of Part 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; …”
It seems unlikely that the University of Oxford would enshrine something in its statutes which was illegal.
Students enter into a contract with the university, and may well sign away their rights. No, they can’t be forced to, but equally the university is not forced to recognise them as a student. A free-standing “student” can do what they like, of course, but in exchange for being associated with the institution, they would be expected to follow its rules.
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Sebastian Rahtz
Chief Data Architect
University of Oxford IT Services
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431
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