(no subject)

[gnu . org]

Hello,

I am a graduate research assistant at a university.  In my
recent employment contract was the following:

---
Employee understands and agrees that any computer programs, software,
documentation, copyrightable work, discoveries, inventions, or
improvements (hereinafter "Work") developed by Employee, solely or
with others, resulting from the performance of Employee's
responsibilites while working for the University are "works made for
hire" and the property of the University.  If for any reason the Work
would not be considered works made for hire under applicable law,
Employee hereby assigns and transfers to the University the entire
right, title, and interest in and to the work.  This provision shall
apply survive termination of Employee's employment with the
University.
---

I currently administer computational clusters for researchers on
campus.  I have conceived of a utility that will make this easier.
However, before developing that utility, I want to make sure that I
can license it under the GPL.  I will develop the utility on my own
time, but I may end up testing and/or deploying it on the University's
machines.

How should I go about this?  Ideally, if there was a modifiable letter
that I could fill out and have the necessary people sign, that would
be great.  I have not the means to hire a lawyer  to resolve this
problem.

If you have any guidance, or can redirect me to someone that can help,
I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

PS After typing this, I notice the form letter

Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
interest in the program `Gnomovision'
(which makes passes at compilers) written 
by James Hacker.

signature of Ty Coon, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice

Is that really sufficient?  What about other intellectual property
besides copyright?