Open Forum

Years ago, I had a problem with an intern essentially taking the information that I had her research for a publication article that I was writing, and turning it into her own published essay that was quite similar to my take on the topic.  I want to avoid this with other interns and wondered if anyone has their interns sign some sort of intellectual property contract that says that what they do for an institution stays with the institution.  Your thoughts are appreciated!

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Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Director
The Sheldon Art Galleries
Saint Louis MO
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Was the internship paid or unpaid? I'm not an attorney, but that might make a difference.

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Laura Caruso
Director of Publications
Denver Art Museum
Denver CO
Director of Publications

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2016 10:18 AM
From: Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Subject: Intellectual Property Contracts for Interns?

Years ago, I had a problem with an intern essentially taking the information that I had her research for a publication article that I was writing, and turning it into her own published essay that was quite similar to my take on the topic.  I want to avoid this with other interns and wondered if anyone has their interns sign some sort of intellectual property contract that says that what they do for an institution stays with the institution.  Your thoughts are appreciated!

------------------------------
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Director
The Sheldon Art Galleries
Saint Louis MO
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Hi Olivia,

I don't work directly with interns, but I write a lot of design contracts on behalf of museums and they typically have a "work for hire" clause in them.  This means that anything created as part of their work for an organization is considered "work for hire" as defined in a specific section cited from the US Copyright Act, and they don't own it, the museum does.  I think this type of language would be very helpful for you.  We could always adapt it to be fairly simple and less "legalese" than I usually use.

The language I use in the contracts is too lengthy to write here but I'd be happy to discuss this with you offline.  You can contact me directly at barbara@puntconsulting.com.

Cheers,
Barbara

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Barbara Punt
President
Punt Consulting Group
Redondo Beach CA
javascript:AddSignatureVariable('barbara@puntconsulting.com');

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2016 10:18 AM
From: Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Subject: Intellectual Property Contracts for Interns?

Years ago, I had a problem with an intern essentially taking the information that I had her research for a publication article that I was writing, and turning it into her own published essay that was quite similar to my take on the topic.  I want to avoid this with other interns and wondered if anyone has their interns sign some sort of intellectual property contract that says that what they do for an institution stays with the institution.  Your thoughts are appreciated!

------------------------------
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Director
The Sheldon Art Galleries
Saint Louis MO
------------------------------

Intellectual property generally refers to tangible creative material, not thoughts per se.

Consequently, you might assert IP rights over an employee's work product (notes from research, for example), or some more finished result (e.g. a specific essay), but you have no property right to the intern's own thought process or the conclusions they draw from their activities, regardless of whether you compensate them for the work during which time (you assert) they were also thinking. You do not say whether the intern's published essay was written while performing employee work for you (e.g. on 'your' time), but I assume it was written later.

As Barbara Punt points out, to assert ownership rights, the person working under contract (not am employee) to perform creative work must also relinquish their authorial rights by stipulating that their product is 'work for hire'. And unless they do, the creative result remains their property. (Typically, for example, architectural designs - but not the finished building - remain property of the architect, not the client, even if the client receives copies of those drawings.)

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Kevin Coffee
Oneida Community Mansion House
Oneida, NY

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2016 10:18 AM
From: Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Subject: Intellectual Property Contracts for Interns?

Years ago, I had a problem with an intern essentially taking the information that I had her research for a publication article that I was writing, and turning it into her own published essay that was quite similar to my take on the topic.  I want to avoid this with other interns and wondered if anyone has their interns sign some sort of intellectual property contract that says that what they do for an institution stays with the institution.  Your thoughts are appreciated!

------------------------------
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Director
The Sheldon Art Galleries
Saint Louis MO
------------------------------

If your museum's employee handbook has a statement about 'work for hire' you could use this same language to apply to interns and volunteers as well, either in an agreement or in a handbook for interns and volunteers.  It is generally accepted that work done under the auspices of a museum or other cultural institution, whether paid or unpaid, remains the property of the museum.  This is a standard provision in employee handbooks and your museum's attorney can help you with it, if you do not have one.  T

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Sally Yerkovich PhD
Adjunct Professor and Director, Institute of Museum Ethics
MA Program Museum Professions - Seton Hall University
South Orange NJ

Original Message:
Sent: 08-23-2016 10:18 AM
From: Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Subject: Intellectual Property Contracts for Interns?

Years ago, I had a problem with an intern essentially taking the information that I had her research for a publication article that I was writing, and turning it into her own published essay that was quite similar to my take on the topic.  I want to avoid this with other interns and wondered if anyone has their interns sign some sort of intellectual property contract that says that what they do for an institution stays with the institution.  Your thoughts are appreciated!

------------------------------
Olivia Lahs-Gonzales
Director
The Sheldon Art Galleries
Saint Louis MO
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