Continuing Education Chairs/Presenters

In disseminating information, it is important that SOT protect the intellectual property rights of others and of SOT. SOT claims ownership for materials produced by SOT, so it is requested that contributors give permission for use of their work and acknowledge that the content of the contributed materials is copyright free or that the contributor has permission to use any materials that are under copyright.

Government agencies usually retain a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce work that is produced by employees, and they permit others to use and publish that work without further licensing or fees. By signing the License Release, you are certifying that SOT is free to use the material without infringing upon the rights of another entity.

Yes. Through the “License and Release for SOT Use of Materials” process, you are confirming that you are authorized by your employer to transfer licensing rights to these materials and that your employer has consented to all the terms and conditions of the agreement.

The form is used for any type of material that is provided to SOT. Please complete the sections that are pertinant to the material you are contributing. For example:

• “Materials created for”: provide the intended use of the items, which is a CE course.
• “Title”: provide the title of your presentation.
• “Text or slides,” “Photographs,” “Video,” “Other”: provide the nature of the material that you are licensing to SOT.

License Release grants permission from the “Author” (you) for SOT to license to reproduce, copy, electronically store, publish, and sell the materials as developed by the presenter. This licensing is independent of the copyright permission process. Copyright permission is necessary if the presenter used any material (e.g., images, information from other publications, or photographs) that is copyrighted by another author or institution. These may be items that you have previously published, depending upon your arrangements with that publisher, or material from other authors.

If any material in your presentation is taken directly from another source, you need permission of the author/publisher to use that material. However, if you take data from multiple sources and, for example, create a new table, that is your work and you would cite the source of the data but would “own” the new work. If an image you created was published and the publisher retained copyright, you could not use that image without a copyright release. However, you could use a similar image you created that had not been previously published.

Images, website screenshots, photographs, and text derived from internet sources may be copyrighted and cannot be used without permission and attribution. Some sites do have statements allowing free use, use for educational purposes, or other guidelines. It is important to track the source of material and the use statement on that site and proceed accordingly. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the assumption is that materials are copyrighted or were borrowed without attribution/permission. Some materials are in the public domain and may be used freely. For example, US law defines the interval for intellectual property rights on some materials, and once expired, those materials may be used freely.

SOT provides a stipend designed to help defray expenses incurred for the preparation of the CE courses. Individual reimbursement for copyright permission will not be provided.

Yes, we ask all presenters to confirm that they will not have any copyrighted information by checking the appropriate box in the online form.

If the photo is copyrighted, you’d follow the appropriate procedures to get permission for use, which may involve a fee. In regard to photos you own or someone else owns, before SOT use, you need to provide proof that the person gives permission for the use of their image; a photo release form is used for that. Approval must be received in writing from parents for anyone under age 18.