Students retain the copyright and other intellectual property rights in work they create in their capacity as students at GSAPP. If the work is created as part of the student’s duties as a paid employee (whether by stipend or by salary) it will be considered a ‘work made for hire’ for the University and the University will own the copyright.
Due to the nature of design instruction, faculty will often be in the position of sharing their creative work with students and involving students in the work. Additionally, students working in groups may create works collaboratively. In such cases, joint ownership of works may result by agreement or as a matter of law.
If GSAPP has provided more than incidental support for the creation and development of a work, individual students who contributed to the work will retain the rights to their ideas, but the University will own the copyright and other rights in the work itself. GSAPP support may include use of GSAPP resources such as funds, facilities and equipment beyond the resources typically provided for student use in connection with studios and other courses.
The University’s Copyright Policy, which is applicable to students, can be found on the University’s Copyright Advisory Services website
Students understand and acknowledge that work submitted or displayed by students in satisfaction of admission, course, or degree requirements, such as papers, drawings, models, digital images and other materials, may be used by GSAPP for non-commercial, academic or research purposes in digital or physical form such as in exhibitions of GSAPP student work, GSAPP publications, reports to sponsors of studios and other forms of GSAPP outreach and/or marketing materials, provided that each student be appropriately credited as the creator of the student’s work whenever feasible.
Any other use of student work, for example, by faculty in their own publications, requires the written consent of each student contributor, in addition to appropriate credit.