| Title: Ownership and Co-Authorship Scenario
Characters: Dr. Hans Brockner (PI, Senior Faculty) Dr. James Rollins (co-PI, Junior Faculty) Dr. Eunice Lee (Dr. Rollins' Colleague, Junior Faculty) INTERIOR, NIGHT. PRIVATE RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN AN OTHERWISE--DESERTED LAB BUILDING Dr. Brockner pops a champagne cork and serves his colleagues. ROLLINS Bravo! BROCKNER Jim… ROLLINS Thank you… BROCKNER Eunice… LEE Whoa… That's great, Hans, thanks. BROCKNER Richly deserved, I'd say. ROLLINS And I'd say so, too! BROCKNER My brilliant and esteemed colleagues! Here's to us! LEE AND ROLLINS TO US! BROCKNER An extraordinary breakthrough, really. ROLLINS After months and months of nothing! LEE It's the first look at how the SV40 tumor antigen sets up shop. BROCKNER It shows the value of patience and persistence! ROLLINS It shows the value of thinking outside the box! LEE It shows the value of talking to the right person! BROCKNER How's that? LEE (to Brockner) Oh, I was the one who told Jim how to fix your protocol. ROLLINS ( to Lee ) Well, you were the one who made a suggestion that lead me to try a new approach, which eventually fixed the protocol. LEE ( to Rollins ) You guys were stuck when we had that conversation in the cafeteria. You guys were going nowhere! BROCKNER ( to Rollins ) You never mention this conversation to me… ROLLINS ( to Brockner ) There were still a lot of things to be checked out. It was just a foot in the door… LEE ( to Rollins ) It was the essence of the solution. It lead to your abandoning of the initial protocol. BROCKNER We never abandoned the protocol. It was by following the protocol that we obtained the data that allowed each of you to make your contribution. The protocol worked, we just had to give it time. More champagne? ROLLINS The protocol was getting us nowhere. LEE It was fundamentally flawed. BROCKNER You're talking about my protocol. ROLLINS It stunk. LEE (to Rollins) Now be fair, Jim. The protocol was usable , it just lacked… insight . ROLLINS Which is the element you supplied, I suppose? Look, I'm grateful for the collegial comment, but I worked for weeks to make it into a viable methodology. BROCKNER ( to Rollins ) The “viable methodology” was there all along – in the protocol! LEE ( to Rollins ) You ungrateful, glory-hogging liar! The fundamental insight was mine! ROLLINS ( to Lee ) We were chatting over salad ! BROCKNER I can't believe this! I'm being stabbed in the back by the two people who've benefited most from my work. ROLLINS ( to Brockner ) Your work? My work! BROCKNER ( to Rollins ) Why, you… upstart! LEE ( to Brockner ) Dinosaur! ROLLINS ( to Lee ) Leach! BROCKNER, ROLLINS and LEE I WON'T GIVE YOU CREDIT FOR THIS!