Q. If my campus asks me to create content for a new course and pays me a stipend without a specific agreement in advance for creating the course, is that new course considered a work for hire?

Works-for-hire are defined under the 1976 Copyright Act in §1.01. In part, works-for-hire are works “specifically ordered or commissioned . . . if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire.” So, the statute and good practice indicate the need for a written contract as a requisite for work-for-hire. The second and third sentences in SUNY’s copyright policy are intended to address work-for-hire not covered by the academic work-for-hire exception, and indicate that such work-for-hire is subject to “contractual arrangements.”