Education Law

Teachers Selling Lesson Plans - What Legal Issues?

The big story making rounds over the weekend was the N. Y. Times story on teachers across the country selling their lesson plans online to make themselves a profit. Lots of local papers ran it in their Sunday edition, including my local paper. 

So, why not? I've weighed it over the weekend and I can't come up with a really good reason to legally ban it, not to mention I don't think there is any existing legal issues. I am no intellectual property guru, but a teacher's lesson plan is his or her own intellectual property, meaning they would hold the copyright (if they sought one). As the copyright owner, they are free to sell it in the same way they are free to give it.  Update: See the comments below - my readers think this is "work for hire" and the property of the school district. I'm not so sure, but until I complete my own research, I suggest that their opinion is the one to be relied upon. 

And, I think schools should stay out of it. They may try to take a cut (and I think there is a reasonable argument they should get a cut), but they should just forget about it. There is just not enough money there to pay a lawyer to handle all the intellectual property issues and negotiate prices. 

Maybe I am crazy, and feel free to tell me that I am, but I think this is an area where the market, aided by the Internet, could actually be a good thing for schools. 

Full post as published by Edjurist on November 16, 2009 (boomark / email).