However, the longstanding practice of universities is to allow faculty to own the copyright in their text books which often rely heavily on material composed and collected as part of their teaching materials. Issue arises partly because of dramatically increased amounts invested by universities in distance education and hopes of making money. Distance learning may be analogous to the patent area, where universities traditionally own the patent, partly because of their investment in labs and their administrative ability to license and monitor inventions. Technical courses may raise patent issues. This is important because at times the name of the professor may be as economically powerful in the marketplace as the name of the university sponsoring the course.
Distance learning is a different experience than the classroom experience.
The number of students who can access a distance education course is substantially greater than in a classroom. The concerns about scale and the concerns about copyright are different. Profits distributed as a result of affiliation with a college. College can decide the proper form of payment for the course, whether it be no additional payment, a set fee, or a percentage of earnings. Using a separate for-profit entity Some colleges are setting up a distinct entity to negotiate the contractual for distance learning, and for handling the courses.