Rouse v. Walter & Associates, L.L.C.

Gene Rouse and Doyle Wilson (plaintiffs) were tenured researchers at Iowa State University (the university). Rouse and Wilson developed a software program that utilized ultrasounds of cattle to predict the cattle’s meat quality. The university’s written policies stated that any software created by university faculty using significant university resources was a work for hire and the copyright belonged to the university. Consistent with this policy, Rouse and Wilson expressly assigned the ultrasound software’s copyright to the university. Rouse and Wilson engaged Viren Amin to program USOFT, a faster interface for the ultrasound software. Amin was an animal-science researcher at the university, but he developed software in his research work. Rouse and Wilson helped create USOFT’s content, and Amin wrote the code. Amin sometimes programmed at home, but USOFT was primarily developed and tested on university computers. Neither Rouse, Wilson, nor Amin expressly assigned USOFT’s copyright to the university, but they repeatedly referred to USOFT as having been copyrighted by the university. The university licensed USOFT to Marvin Walter and Associates (Walter) (defendant) to use in an ultrasound business. Rouse, Wilson, and Amin started a competing ultrasound business. Rouse and Wilson sued Walter for copyright infringement, claiming that they and Amin were USOFT’s authors and copyright owners, not the university. Walter moved for summary judgment, arguing that the university owned the copyright because USOFT was a work for hire made by university employees.