The UNC Charlotte Copyright Policy, §B, states that works created by SPA Staff Employees shall be considered "Works Made for Hire".  As described in the Law of Copyright Ownership: Works Made For Hire section, SPA works are considered to be employee works for hire (the first type of work for hire). That is SPA works created at UNC Charlotte are, for the most part, deemed to be works prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment.

The University holds the copyright to SPA works, with three possible exceptions:

1.  Before a specific work is created, an agreement is made (with written approval of the Chancellor) stating that the work shall be owned in whole or in part by the employee;

2.  University ownership is waived by the Chancellor;

3.  When the SPA staff creator is an author/co-author of a Traditional or Non-Directed Work, and his/her written signature is necessary to assign rights to the work to an academic publisher.