I think there'd be some question, because the students aren't being paid to
create the work. Quite the contrary, it's the other way around: the students are
the ones paying the school. I'd think the school would be on shaky ground when
it comes to such a contract. Where's the consideration for the copyrights? Not
the education, the students are already paying their tuition and fees to get
that. I'd think the school would have a hard time arguing that there's a valid
agreement when the students give up copyrights and get nothing in return that
they weren't already paying for independently of the copyrights.
Work for
hire? That normally goes within an employer/employee context, and I really don't
think the school wants to go there. If students are employes then the school's
required by law to pay them minimum wage for the time they're there, withhold
taxes, pay the employer's share of SSI, pay unemployment and other taxes, the
list goes on. And if the students aren't employees, then the rules about the
written agreements are even more stringent than they are otherwise. IIRC the
agreement specifically has to be for each work, the way the law's worded
excludes a blanket agreement on everything.
And if proposed 3-strikes
laws are actually put into effect, what then? All it takes is one annoyed parent
who's also a lawyer and the district could be facing 3 accusations of copyright
infringement and a lawyer arguing that the law says right there that the
infringer's Internet access must be cut off after the third strike. And
if you don't think some parent in any district wouldn't be that much of a jerk,
I direct you to the behavior of parties and counsel in numerous lawsuits of
late. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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