Copyright at NPS

Works done by State/local government employees in the course of their employment are protected by copyright in the US.  

Whether you (the author) or your State/local government employer owns the copyright to your work will be determined by the terms of your employment agreement with your employer.  We suggest you check with your employer or local General Counsel for guidance BEFORE you file your capstone/dissertation/thesis.

NPS students and their faculty advisors sign thesis/dissertation/capstone release agreements that permit NPS-student authored works to be distributed to NPS and DOD websites in accordance with the security classification(s) and distribution statement(s) selected by the author(s).  

All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. Reuse of these works requires permission of the copyright holder, fair use exemptions, or must be in accordance with a Creative Commons license selected by the rights-holder.  

Source: CENDI: Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright

Students enrolled in CHDS programs hail from a variety of US federal, state and local governments.  

There are important differences among these groups with respect to copyright. 

Whether you (the author) or your State/local government employer owns the copyright to your work will be determined by the terms of your employment agreement with your employer.  We suggest you check with your employer or local General Counsel for guidance BEFORE you file your capstone/dissertation/thesis.