Intellectual Property and Online Course Development

The entire topic of the ownership of intellectual property as it applies to online courses developed by University of Illinois faculty with University funding was studied extensively in the late 1990's. A number of documents on this topic are online at:

http://www.online.uillinois.edu/faculty/intellectualproperty.asp

Of many possibilities, it seems best if the faculty member owns the intellectual property, but grants the University a royalty-free license in perpetuity to use the IP and to make a derivative work for use in its educational programs.

Alternatively, the University can own the IP and grant the faculty creator a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use the IP.