Copyright law is actually pretty fun, especially in a case like this. It is exceedingly unlikely the page, the graphics, and the content belong to anyone other than the owner. This is actually gone to the Supreme Court, and though in a different context, the law is pretty clear.
Was the creator of the site paid as an employee for the site? No. The Supreme Court is pretty clear on what constitutes an agent of employ, which is why faculty theses are considered property of the University (they receive employment compensation for their efforts). Because the creator of the site is a student and created the site as such, and not as an agent of the UofU, he maintains the copyright on everything having to do with that site no matter what they did to it, or where they put it. In order for the UofU to hold the copyright on this site, the creator would have had to expressly signed over that copyright. I don't think he did that.
What he really needs to do, if it hasn't been done already, is get himself a lawyer. I don't know what the lawyers at the UofU are thinking, but I'm wondering if they were even asked prior to the administration's actions. Likely not.
Slashdot Mirror
Copyright law is actually pretty fun, especially in a case like this. It is exceedingly unlikely the page, the graphics, and the content belong to anyone other than the owner. This is actually gone to the Supreme Court, and though in a different context, the law is pretty clear.
Was the creator of the site paid as an employee for the site? No. The Supreme Court is pretty clear on what constitutes an agent of employ, which is why faculty theses are considered property of the University (they receive employment compensation for their efforts). Because the creator of the site is a student and created the site as such, and not as an agent of the UofU, he maintains the copyright on everything having to do with that site no matter what they did to it, or where they put it. In order for the UofU to hold the copyright on this site, the creator would have had to expressly signed over that copyright. I don't think he did that. What he really needs to do, if it hasn't been done already, is get himself a lawyer. I don't know what the lawyers at the UofU are thinking, but I'm wondering if they were even asked prior to the administration's actions. Likely not.