Q. Is the material that you are submitting to Digital Collections considered work-for-hire?

​​​​OHSU Employees

Work created as part of your job at OHSU is typically considered "work made for hire," meaning OHSU holds the copyright.

• Scholarly works (e.g., peer-reviewed articles) are usually not considered work-for-hire.
• Non-scholarly works created within your job duties are OHSU intellectual property.

To submit or license OHSU-owned work, contact OHSU Technology Transfer.
For questions about submissions, reach out to the Library Copyright Team.

VA Employees

Work created as part of your official VA duties is considered U.S. government property and is in the public domain.
Be sure to indicate this status accurately when submitting your work.

OHSU Students Who Are Also VA Employees

Ownership depends on the nature of the work:

• If created as part of your VA duties → Public domain (government work-for-hire).
• If created outside those duties (e.g., for academic purposes) → Scholarly work, copyright remains with the author(s).

Helpful Resources

• What is the public domain? 
• Copyrightable Authorship: What Can Be Registered 

  This chapter from the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition outlines how the Copyright Office evaluates what qualifies as copyrightable authorship. For information on government employee works, see Section 313.6(C)(1), “U.S. Government Work,” on page 37.