Scientific Images and Copyright

[tango_elturco]

Yesterday my wife asked me if her SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope)

images are copyrighted or not. Do you guys have any idea?

 

She is a Ph.D student so her research is funded by her professor but

she prepared the specimens and took the pictures.

 

Thanks

[fotoscopio]

No piece of camera or equipment (microscope) has copyrighted production, meaning that your pictures are yours (not your gear's), maybe with the exception of military ultra-high tech classified equipment. You should be able to exhibit your photo work and copyright it as your own. Your college might have a policy though, on how its equipment is used and for what purpose.<br>

<br>Hope it helps

[ericwarnke]

If she is a student all of her work os probably a "work for hire" and porpertly of the university. Most universities never enforce that clause, but it's a fairly standard practice.

[craig_gillette]

Copyright exists when the work becomes fixed in tangible form (the Library of Congress site explains it more fully). So, yes, they are copyrighted. The nitty-gritty would be who owns the copyright and what may or may not be exploitable.

[gaius1]

The university probably claims ownership - any software written by a student, they'd do the same. Several people I know wrote software at university which they then "spun off" into a commercial venture, the university helped them to do it in return for a stake in the business. So I suspect that if she asked, they'd be fine about it, so long as they got something in return, whether that's just a credit, or a cash payment, it's open to negotiation I guess.