I contacted Charles Oppenheim to see if he has anything further to add. 
He reiterated his view below, i.e. that students own the rights in data 
they create as part of a project when they are self or grant-funded. 
That is in keeping with previous Jisc Legal advice on the subject (1).

The University of Oxford statutes quoted by Sebastian Rahtz below allude 
to this by raising the possibility for regulations 'reguiring' students 
to waive those rights. According to Charles (who may be a layman but is 
an internationally recognised expert one (2), if those regulations exist 
"such terms and conditions are unfair contractual terms imposed on 
students which could (and should) be challenged through the courts. 
Other legal reports have said much the same, as does Monotti's and 
Ricketson's standard textbook on Universities and copyright law 
(Universities and Intellectual Property: Ownership and Exploitation)"

Accepting that students do own the IPR, where they legally exist, in my 
view the more important point is to strongly encourage student data 
depositors to use CC0 or CC-BY.  By the way, Alex Ball has recently 
updated the DCC guide How to licence data (3)

Hope that helps

Angus


(1) 
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/ManageContent/ViewDetail/ID/1893/Who-owns-copyright-in-works-created-in-universities-and-colleges-6-June-2011.aspx

(2) Charles Oppenheim bio see 
http://researchsupporthub.northampton.ac.uk/2014/03/21/charles-oppenheim-visiting-professor-in-library-and-learning-services/

(3) http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data



On 06/01/2015 11:00, Sebastian Rahtz wrote:
>> 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.
> --
> Sebastian Rahtz
> Chief Data Architect
> University of Oxford IT Services
> 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431
>



The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.