April 7, 2008
Does Selling Lecture Notes Violate Professors' Copyrights?
A University of Florida professor is suing a company that sells students’ lecture notes because he says the service infringes on his intellectual property rights, Wired reports.
The company, Einstein’s Notes, pays students to take notes and create “Study Kits.” The company then sells the kits through its Web site.
A 1996 Florida lawsuit against another note-selling company was rejected by the courts. In the new case, however, the professor has copyrighted his lectures. Click here to see the full complaint.—Catherine Rampell
Posted on Monday April 7, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Most lecture notes are supplied buy book vendors anyway. These study guides are always within the students reach for free if they would only read the syllabus.
— Dr. Bill Apr 5, 11:35 PM #
Many students will pay for anything that promises them the “opportunity” to stop attending classes, in addition to the tuition they paid for the opportunity to attend classes in the first place. And because most of the note-takers do nothing more than copy the contents of the slides or overheads, such companies perpetrate one of the biggest rip-offs these students ever buy into during their time in college.
— Tom C. Apr 6, 12:34 AM #
If anyone should profit off of the lectures I put together it should be me. If the company wants notes they should ask me to do it and pay me for my intellectual property.
This is very different from notes produced by the textbook company. Besides I can assure you that those textbook companies hold the copyrights to those notes and would sue is someone began selling them (that was not them).
— GG Apr 6, 09:40 AM #
Copyrighting may be a good first step, but profs may also want to consider selling the notes themselves as part of a class package. Setting the price point is critical, so no secondary market competition can cut into one’s market share. Each semester or year there must be sufficient chage to require the most recent edition, as do the textbooks. Use the kitchen sink theory to your advantage! Put it all on a CD with a glitzy label. Give lots of quizzes on the stuff, thus requiring lots of attendance. You are sitting on a gold mine! Eureka already!
OTOH, how could class notes be sufficient to pass a course without attending, engaging and producing evidence of critical thinkng, either in writing or in discussion? To me, this is the far more burning question.
Greetings from the community college trenches…
— Peggy DeStefano Apr 6, 08:35 PM #
Copyright subsists in the form of words used. If the company paraphrases the notes, then would not copyright be averted, but not other IP rights?
— Dave Postles Apr 7, 05:22 AM #
Who is to say the good students do not annotate and supplement the lectures during their note taking, fill in the gaps of logic and reasoning which the professor glossed over in class. The same has occurred with many databases, where annotation was provided later, in many cases funded by either NSF or even NIH. Many professors, not all of course, just read the book and extract large portions from books and research articles. What is worse, any academics do not acknowledge their sources, which in an ethical sense is plagiarism. When I lecture and prepare lecture notes (which I provide free from the course website, they need to pay for the price of printing them out if they feel they are useful), I give reference, just like I do when I write a research prepare. I am sorry to have to admit it, but many academics lift a lot from sources and do not adequately attribute the work and effort (and copyright) to the REAL authors. To copy from a book onto a overhead or type in to a word document, does not make the work yours!!
Again, if the students annotate, add references, and add and fill in details, which I am sure the good students do, then the work is not the professors simple lecture, but a value added product. It is the same as the GUI of linux distributions. Most professors and lecturers are paid to present the information and now they want to be paid a second time, for doing a bad job. I think we all should provide FREE to all of the students registered in our courses, our ANNOTATED lecture notes, with complete references, sources and a complete bibliography of other sources. With the cost of education skyrocketing, so should the quality and performance. The quality and performance of our computers have gotten almost exponentially better, while the quality of a lot of university lectures appears to have gotten exponentially worse. So do our jobs and educate and train our students so that they can complete with the ever increasing number of Chinese, Indian and Europeans in our graduate schools. And by the way, India and China do not recognize our copyright laws. The Indian and Chinese so-called International editions of our texts make the work of our top academics more available to their students than our own!! With record increases in tuition and less and less financial aide, we need to help our student by providing free top quality annotated lecture notes and not add yet another barrier fro them!!
— Karl Apr 7, 05:41 AM #
If I am THAT good (that the company would sell and the students would buy my lecture notes), then maybe the company would be interested in a book. That’s where the money is.
In other words, simply regard the lecture notes as just so much foreplay…
— Professor Larry Apr 7, 06:00 AM #
What strikes me as ironic if the instructor intentionally submits lecture notes and examinations simply as a device to get students to study. The unfortunate part about this is that this act contributes to the owners of the Eistein Notes fraud, but then again textbook prices in recent years are often viewed as frauds committed by oligopoly publishers
Bob Jensen’s threads on cheating are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm
— Robert E. Jensen Apr 7, 09:24 AM #
Paraphrasing can be copyright infringement. It’s not often discussed that way, but “word-for-word” is not necessary for copyright infringement.
I do not see any way this case has merit so long as the notes are sold only to enrolled students. If they are sold to a wider audience, then yes, we have copyright infringement.
— me Apr 7, 09:47 AM #
Faculty spend a lot of time and effort preparing a good lecture. There is innate value in that information.
I see no reason for a third-party to profit from this content if they did not provide supplementary content or process the lecture in a new way.
When I taught Med students, I refused to allow them to tape my lectures. Why? I discussed their use intent with the students. What they planned to do was make a full recording of the lectures to allow students not to attend classes NEXT year.
In this case, intent and content is critical. I’m just amazed that students don’t realize that going to class is typically the best way to get the information in a lecture!
— Stephen Apr 7, 10:14 AM #
This is more of a theft of persona case than a copyright case. First, the value of the notes is wrapped up in their association with the professor. Second, their sale may constitute premature publication, contrary to the professor’s intent, of the professor’s unique synthesis and organization of the material.
For great coverage of this issue, see Corrynne McSherry’s book, Who Owns Academic Work.
— Alan Apr 7, 10:30 AM #
A lecture is a performance. A written record of that lecture is the note taker’s interpretation of the lecture. I see no copyright issues at all. I also think that most faculty have a completely irrational opinion of the commercial value of their lectures, which is generally about Zero. No one would read lecture notes for 99.9% of all courses unless they have to take the course.
Faculty are focusing on the wrong thing. Their primary objective should be helping students to succeed. If lecture notes help them succeed, the faculty should be publishing their own notes to help students achieve that end…or helping the note-takers to be as accurate as possible. That’s what I’d do.
— Al Apr 7, 10:59 AM #
In 8 years of higher education, I was fortunate to be enrolled in 2 classes where the professors were so brilliant, so challenging, and so passionate that I was genuinely inspired. I don’t even remember taking notes in their classes, but I do remember how much I admired them, envied them for their brilliance, and searched madly for more things to read and study as a result of their teaching. But, these were only 2 faculty among dozens of classes I took; I regret that most of the others seemed bored, tired with their field, or uninspiring. If someone would have given me good notes of what they had to say, I would have been spared sitting in their classes. If lectures are nothing more than the passing on of information, then they are obsolete; but, if they can challenge, inspire, and above all, make students think, then they are priceless.
— Carl Apr 7, 11:17 AM #
This article and all of the commentators missed a critical point point of copyright law. Under the code of federal regulations, copyright of all materials generated as an employee – a lecturer using substantial resources of the employer or under the direction of the university to provide lectures- belongs to the university. Therefore, professors really have no right to compensation without express approval or grant of a limited license from university adminstrators. Additionally, never assume that the professor has gained copyright clearance for materials gleened from other sources. Furthermore, such copyright clearance does not apply to note taking services and leaves them liable for substantial damages. Note sharing is probably alright but selling notes for commercial gain will attract someones attention. Always remember that in the digital age, someone is monitoring these activities.
— ds Apr 7, 11:58 AM #
When I was in college, the school offered students the opportunity to buy class notes, and select students the opportunity to take notes in these classes and the be paid for their effort. I fail to see how this is a copyright infringement of the professor. The prof “talked,” the hired student took the notes, and the class/prof was clearly noted. If this is copyright infringement, intellectual property infringement, or any other which I’m sure some will come up with, are you not yourselves violating this when you read a newspaper where someone was an an event, took notes, and published it for others to read, either in lieu of their not being able to attend, or as a companion to their gained knowledge from attending?
— tere Apr 7, 12:21 PM #
For the notes I take in nearly every class, there are days when I feel like I should be paid! I go through reams of paper every semester. I’ve never sold my notes, but I’ve certainly loaned them to other students if they’ve missed class, although that bothers me at times. In the end, working that much harder doesn’t bother me, as the rewards are usually meted out in test scores and final grades.
My notes are far from just what the professor says in class, however. I draw on every class I’ve ever taken, everything I’ve learned — all these things wind up in my notes. Do I reference any of these things? We’re talking about notes here, not a dissertation. I have better things to do than cross-reference, annotate, and cite sources for my notes.
How would I feel about selling my notes? Depends on how much work goes into it. I don’t have time to waste on non-school-related activities. I also don’t like the idea of unfocused, apathetic students purchasing my notes so they can breeze through class. I wouldn’t mind selling my notes to someone who is putting forth the effort.
As for teachers making their lecture notes available, shame on you! I really hate that. I much prefer it when my profs refrain from posting power points and notes. Students should be in class taking down what they deem necessary. If someone needs help and goes to the prof, different story altogether.
— AH Apr 7, 12:37 PM #
My daughter has a little known disability called dysgraphia. She is bright, articulate and reads without problems. However, due to a combination of poor fine muscle control and brain miswiring , she cannot use a pencil or type at anything that approaches a normal speed. The words she manages to get on paper are out of order. While a student, she and others like her receive notes taken by fellow students who contracted with and are paid by Disability Services . What happens to this service ?
— Sherry Apr 7, 01:28 PM #
This will be interesting to follow. Until one sees his lecture outline and compares the company’s notes, it’s hard to “judge” this one. I read the complaint as well as the article and the professor has protected his IP properly – by fixing it in tangible medium it becomes copyrighted, he disclosed to his employer and asked that it be waived back, UF waived it back, and he registered the copyright. I used to work in a university tech licensing office, so I know he did the proper thing. In fact, I did the same at my former institution where I taught a course.
The question becomes did the company so closely record the lectures that it they constitute a derivative work (in that case it would be infringement). If not, then I don’t think he has much of a chance.
A key point that the article flubbed was that in the 1996 case, there indeed was a copyright, just not a registered copyright as in this case. Suits involving unregistered copyrights limit the plaintiff to actual damages up to a certain point. If there is no economic loss, no award. However, when the copyright is registered, then statuatory and punitive awards are allowed over and above economic loss due to infringement. This case is also being waged in a Federal Court, the article did not say if the 1996 case was in federal or state court.
— K in FL Apr 7, 02:32 PM #
I’m not familiar with the 1996 case, K, but it says the case was “rejected” (as I suspect will happen here too). That means there was no determination of damages so whether or not copyright was registered is immaterial.
Nonetheless, I agree with #14 who points out the work-for-hire nature of the professor’s lecture. If I understood correctly, it’s the students’ notes, not the prof’s, that are being purchased and resold. I can remember lots of people in college study groups who wrote down exactly the WRONG points. Caveat emptor!
— Rob Apr 7, 02:58 PM #
I hope this post will be permitted – it is rather lengthy. On the other hand, it shows how far back this issue goes, especially for those too young to have been there.
The Lecture Paradox, by LeRoy Kuehl, Ph.D.
THE PHAROS, Spring 1986
Three students on the door did knock; With their Professor they would talk.
He welcomed them most cordially; Asked: what could their problem be?
And in the office of that Saint, They laid before him this complaint:
Your course falls short, you can’t deny, Since lecture notes you don’t supply.
So all we do while in your class, Is take dictation, notes amass.
Preoccupied with pen and ink, We have no time to learn or think.
Your pearls of wisdom, priceless quotes, Slip by while we sit taking notes.
The good Professor promised this, That they’d have lecture notes forthwith.
Six days he toiled and evenings too, And when his task was finally through
Then all his lectures without fail Were written up in great detail,
And basic concepts were defined, Because they were all underlined.
Next year came students as before, To knock upon that good man’s door;
To tell him how he was remiss, And now their grievance read like this:
In lecture everything you say Is in the course notes anyway.
And since we all know how to read, Of hearing you there’s little need.
We could as well remain at home, And learn the subject on our own.
Could you not tell us something new, That isn’t in the handouts too?
The good Professor promised this: To remedy the flaw forthwith.
Three days he toiled and evenings too, And when his task was finally through,
He added data and more quotes, And minor points and anecdotes
To supplement and underscore, The topics that he’d taught before.
Next year the students came to bleat: His lecture notes were incomplete.
For much of what he did expound, Could nowhere in the notes be found.
Although this caused him much chagrin, Soon to their braying he gave in,
and once again without delay
He wrote down all that he would say.
And to the old notes this was added— His outline now was quite well padded.
When yet another year had passed And he thought he’d found peace at last,
There welled a cry from student throats That all he did was read his notes.
The poor professor paced the hall Feeling like a ping-pong ball.
Thus year by year his lectures grew, And longer were his outlines too.
And students found to their distress They had to master an excess
Of obscure facts, minute detail; Of information dry and stale.
A situation that attained, All because they had complained.
The moral is easy to observe:
Students get what they deserve.
******
The Solution, by John C. Nemiah, M.D.
The moral of your lines of verse is Clear to those who heed them:
You’ll not escape your students’ curses No matter how you feed them.
To cast your lectures on deaf ears is Folly’s height — debride them!
The only way you’ll find surcease is:
Let the blighters read them.
— Henry Apr 7, 03:12 PM #
Very apropos! Just as any presenter knows, individuals in the audience learn differently; some by sight, some auditorily, some tactilly, other by some combination. No one delivery method works for all.
— Rob Apr 7, 04:47 PM #
As an adjunct professor, I always supplied my students with lecture notes, and exam study guides. It was part of the learning process, and as such I provided them at no added cost.
— Ted Darby Apr 7, 05:04 PM #
I think one can only lay a copyright claim to a course note if what he/she has produced the note about is new. I also think it is foolish for one to lay a claim to a course note on “introduction to computer science”. there is nothing you are going to write in the note that has not been written before no matter how you present it.
— elizabeth Apr 9, 11:37 AM #
I’m wondering if the professors who wish to have such notes copyrighted, along with their actual lectures, are willing to share the copyright with the rightful owners – the colleges / universities who paid them to do the work? Since teaching is, at least in part, what professors are getting paid for, it would appear to me that the school “owns” the content of the lectures, and hence holds the copyright on the class notes derived from the lectures.
— Richard Apr 10, 10:55 AM #
I think that if a person sells an exact duplicate of the professor’s lecture, then the professor’s intellectual properity has been violated. However, if a student has taken the time to listen to what was said in class and create their own interpretation of what they learned, then i feel that student has created their own work and can do with it what they wish. Let’s face it, the professors did that exact same thing. They read other works, added some of the knowledge they have come across, and presented the material to you in a way they felt would be the easiest way to learn.
http://www.ShareNotes.com is one of those websites where students are encouraged to Share (or sell) their own lecture notes. It’s student driven (company doesn’t profit/charge/directly sell any notes). In the words of the Sharenotes.com website, “collaborate to graduate.”
— James Apr 13, 03:58 PM #