Many professors say the most important issue is not ownership but control. Larry Press, who is a professor of computer information systems at California State University at Dominguez Hills, says he learned the risks of putting work on the Web the hard way. He and his students had created an elaborate Web site for the university's School of Management, where he teaches. He says he had not been consulted. A big part of my academic productivity is hanging out there, and it's vulnerable.
Universities say they, too, feel vulnerable.
In the brave new world of technology-enabled education, scenarios are possible that could not have been imagined when professors wore black gowns to class and all students learned Latin. Dan L. Burk, a law professor at Seton Hall University who has studied the issue, says it is important to engage all the interested parties. The early adopters made some mistakes. Those were the universities who simply said, 'We own everything,' and who didn't actually consult the faculty. Ultimately, suggests Mr. Crews, director of the Indiana copyright center, professors and administrators will have to sit down and negotiate.