Consolidation

• Clarifies ownership
• Ensures publication


• Identifies party responsible for work

When you are preparing a work with many copyright elements and many contributors, you need to consolidate the rights with the entity that is going to publish or disseminate the work.

Benefits of Consolidation
Having your rights consolidated shows potential publishers or distributors that the project managers can manage risk and are prepared for the product's future.

Being clear about the copyright rights for each project, it is:
· Easier to stop others from producing content which is too similar,
· To create relationships with those interested in the project,
· To control the product's quality.

Without identifying ownership of particular elements, it is difficult to ensure the project can be released.

How to Consolidate Rights
Rights consolidation is accomplished through either an assignment of copyright, which transfers ownership of the work to another, or through a license, which grants permission to use a work in a certain way. Both assignments and licenses are part of creating works within a university setting.

Creators may be asked to assign rights in scholarly work to a publisher so that the work may be published. Or, creators may be asked to grant a license to the University to use work you own in a project.

Consolidation and UW Copyright
You may be asked to transfer your copyright to the University if, as defined under UW copyright policy, you used University staff, resources or funding, or the University has obligations to provide such materials as required elements under a grant, contract or other award..

Creators and Consolidation
If it is determined that rights should be consolidated with the University, the creator of the work retains a say in how the work is used, credit for having prepared the work, and in most cases, a share of any royalties that may be generated if the work is commercialized.

When you are working on this type of project, you may be asked to sign a participation agreement that will clarify your rights and responsibilities on a particular project.