This chapter synthesizes the previous chapters to offer to readers practical recommendations for navigating IP issues, including resources and advice for faculty and administrations to engage in more equitable discussions about the rights of faculty and the interests of the public good.

A complete discussion of intellectual property (IP), faculty rights, and the public good requires a thorough framing of higher education's legal context, from which the rise of legalistic criteria (or legalization) and current IP regime have grown.

Ownership of traditional courseware is vested in the faculty. In the digital forum, however, under the Copyright Act of 1976, case law, and institutional policy ownership may be vested in the institution.

This chapter provides a history of the scholarly publishing system, and explains how it has evolved to benefit corporate publishers to the detriment of faculty, universities, and the public. It offers the open access movement as a potential remedy for the publishing crisis, and the policy environment surrounding these new forms of communication.

Changing the program structure of a higher education institution requires careful attention to existing and developing legal rights, especially in the areas of faculty contracts, student contracts, and program-related decisions. (Author/MSE)