Work Product - Rights of Board Members

Sorry for being blunt, but are you upset to no longer be on the Board??

I can't speak for the legal position, but from a moral I don't think you should. You donated the work product while a member of the Board. Now you want to either be paid or tell them to stop using your work. The world is not designed to work that way.

When you volunteered to work on the Board you volunteered your work product. Anything else and the message is that a Board should not allow volunteer work because when the volunteer leaves what they worked on can be held hostage.

I would say that those "gifts" are really those much-needed contributions that a talented president might bring to that office.

The association was lucky to have you! It sounds like you helped fine tune it and help it get ready for the future.

But really, all those gestures and hard copy material are what you contributed on a volunteer basis and it's up to the current board to do what it wants with them.

Our board adopted (by motion) "offical" letterhead, a mission statement, a logo, and a newsletter name and design. Many people were involved in the design of these items, some more than others. They still "belong" to the group.

I am glad that you donated a lot to your neighborhood. I would expect that any attempt to receive compensation for the work product now would be highly frowned upon since it would in effect be asking for compensation for your previously volunteered work.

On the other hand, you could approach the Board about an agreement that the information constitutes a non-transferable, non-exclusive license for the HOA's use, thus preserving your ability to market the materials later to another HOA.

But if you read back through you must admit it would could look very much like an attempt to make money from your previously volunteered time. Now if that experience is marketable to another organization I see nothing wrong with doing so.

Have to disagree, Mary. Copyright is established as soon as a written document is created. No claim needed, no registration is needed, no circle with a c needed. The copyright is established simply by the force of law. Pretty sure the current time lasts 70 years.

Now, how and if and why it is enforced is a separate matter.

I appreciate all the responses. It's amazing to me thpugh how several jump to the "vindictive" or "sour grapes" card, without knowing anything about the circumstances. No my interest is not vindictive, not sour grapes - I simply am looking for opinion on the legal rights to the work product completed as a board member. I fully understand the nature of "volunteerism" but I also recognize, asd I'm sure you all do, that an HOA is a legal entity, in our case an Limited Liability Corporation, and with that as the backdrop, what the implications are for workproduct completed while on the Board of Directors for this LLC, as no "non-competes" or "forfeiture of workproduct" etc. documents were in place when the board was seated.

But again, the assuption of a vindictive bitter fomer voard member is a natural assumption I suppose. What if I told you the the current board was planning on sharing several of these templates and documents with other HOAs, perhaps for non-monetary compensation, or that a currently seated board member was planning to start their own management company and want to know what rights I have to the documents I created, and without any other creative input, if this board member begins utilizing them for their new company? Also, suppose the current is considering selling the templates (yes, their that good), or utilizing my opinions, notes, etc. as the basis for defending legal actions from a third party?

Just looking for friendly advice - I couls honestly do without the rush to judgement. Thanks everyone!

JohnG,

As I noted recently, copyright exists at time of creation, and with that comes some rights of the claimant.

But be aware of the folowing generalities for consideration:

Copyright protects the presentation of ideas, not the ideas themselves. For instance, a detailed outline of what a novel might consist of is far less of value than a novel written based on that outline.

The Fair Use doctrine usually applies. For instance, a critic can quote parts of the novel for criticism purposes w/o infringing.

Profit is the primary reason for protecting written works.

JohnK3 - Thanks very much - this is the substantive opinion I was hoping for - sans the judgement of my character and motivations. I appreciate so much your opinion.

My question is also asked from the perspective of what steps should be taken by a board to prevent someone (board member, committee member or volunteer) from laying claim to workproduct done for the association, but without any written agreement - for instance a volunteer who designs a community's website, or a homeowner who takes photos of a community event and then wants them back or taken off the website, or a volunteer who creates a flyer or sign, that wewant to use for another event. Just thought I'd look to this site for input/opinion.

Thanks again for the opinions.

Thanks JohnG,

I wrote our ARC Guideline manuel which took 4 months of hard work and research. Once it was reviewed and passed by the Board, it belonged to them.

Then we have a nice gentleman from Georgia on this site who asked about what sort of things the manual contained. I gladly forwarded it to him and they adopted some of it. Its like you said, life's too short to be chasing something all of the time.

There is also some issue about creating a work product while working for a company, even if that work is done without pay, or as a volunteer.

I produced untold numbers of logos, written materials, websites, marketing materials (both design and writing), in both paid and unpaid positions with various companies over the years.

The work product produced is not mine. It belongs to the companies for which I worked. However, I have also produced many designs, websites, and written pieces for OTHER companies as a freelancer. I can be compensated for those materials, however, once I give them to the companies for their use, I do not retain the royalties to them, unless that was part of the contract or agreement in the first place.[/b

The HOA did not contract with you to produce the materials while working for them, and it appears there was no prior agreement regarding the rights. It seems disingenuous to produce work, allow the use of it by the entity, with the unspoken presumption that it was a gratis situation, and then come back later and say, "by the way, I should have charged you XXX for that intellectual property, oh, and by the way, I want to retain the rights and control how and when you use it."

An equitable negotiation should have been worked out from the very beginning, before you even created or presented them with the logoed letterhead, etc., in which case they could have voted to pay you, or obtain the services of another individual to produce the items.